


A World of Monsters and Magic

by ariadnesmaze



Series: A World of Monsters and Magic [1]
Category: Avengers (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: A.I.M., AIM - Freeform, AREA, Advanced Idea Mechanics, Comic, Comic Book Accurate, Comic Book Science, Infinity Stones, Intergalactic Battle, Kang the Conqueror - Freeform, Korbik - Freeform, Marvel Universe, Multiuniversal, Multiverse, Original Plot, Stark Expo, Stark Industries, Tesseract, interdimensional, mephisto - Freeform, other dimension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:02:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 30,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22038247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariadnesmaze/pseuds/ariadnesmaze
Summary: Rina Kobayashi, co-head of Katana Enterprises, has a secret. She's a superhero and she's doing a much better job at keeping it a secret than her arch rival in the weapons industry, Tony Stark. When aliens attack New York and Rina is blamed for her work on Phase 2, she must step up and reveal herself to stop both Loki and the puppet master behind his mind control. Rina discovers that the man behind the attack is none other than Kang the Conqueror, a being able to travel through dimensions and take people out of time itself.And Kang the Conqueror wants Rina more than anything and only Loki truly knows why he's after her.
Relationships: Avengers Team & Original Female Character(s), Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, Loki & Avengers Team, Loki (Marvel)/Original Female Character(s), Loki/OFC, Steve Rogers & Avengers Team, Tony Stark & Avengers Team, Tony Stark/Original Female Character(s)
Series: A World of Monsters and Magic [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1586299
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter One

Chapter One  
Rina 

“Did you see the news, Rina?” My brother, Yukine, came charging into the room, his three piece suit in disarray as he flickered through channels until he turned on a press conference with Tony Stark, the head of Stark Industries and our rival in weapons development. Japanese subtitles flickered across the screen but I didn’t need them to understand his English. 

Tony Stark had been kidnapped by terrorists over a month ago and since then, our sales at Katana Enterprises had doubled but since he had returned last night, our sales had plummeted as his less than loyal customers had returned. 

I sighed, “I see they found him alive.” A funeral would’ve been good for business. 

“Shh,” Yuki said, waving his hand and I turned to listen to Tony Stark. 

“I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them.” Stark was saying and I frowned, wondering where this was going. “And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero-accountability.” His eyes seemed to bore into my own and I shifted in my seat, uncomfortable with the images he was creating in my head. 

I just helped fund and build the weapons, I wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger. A reporter finally shouted out the question we were all wondering, “Mr. Stark! What happened out there?” 

The entire world seemed to wait for his response. “I had my eyes opened,” he finally responded, “I came to realize that I had more to offer this world than just making things that blow up.” My brother and I exchanged glances. “And that is why, effective immediately,” Tony Stark continued, “I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries.” 

My eyes widened as the reporters on the screen exploded with questions, all shouting over one another but I was barely listening to the screams on the television as the phones started to ring. 

I stood in the center of the chaos as my brother, the co-head of Katana Enterprises, quintupled our profits in one afternoon. 

And I couldn’t help but stare at the broken and tired face of Tony Stark as he was led away, wondering why he had given up all of this wealth and power in an attempt at a clean conscience. 

As the phones continued to ring, my brother continued to shout, and secretaries ran around arranging meetings with our new clients, I couldn’t help but smile. 

I now stood on top of the biggest empire in the world. “Thanks Tony,” I whispered as I clicked off the television and turned to embrace the empire that had just been laid at my families feet. 

***

“Director Fury,” I said, reaching out and shaking the hands of one of the most powerful people in America. “Agent Coulson,” I shook the hand of the man next to him. “And Agent Hill,” the only woman also shook my hand, studying me wearily. “Nice to see you again.” I had seen them briefly years ago when a supernatural threat had almost decimated Tokyo. 

Hill stared at me confused, “I apologize Miss. Kobayashi but I was under the impression that we were meeting with your brother.” 

I gave a small laugh, one that had taken years to perfect, “I’m afraid that my brother is busy but he informed me of your plans and assigned me personally. I think you’ll find my particular skill set of use to you.” 

Coulson cocked an eyebrow, “the conversation I had with your brother was to remain confidential.” 

I shrugged daintily, “I’m afraid he explained the situation to me before my arrival,” that wasn’t necessarily true. I had hacked into my brother’s schedule and rearranged his day so he never knew this meeting existed. I wanted the chance to work with S.H.I.E.L.D. and I had gotten all the information I needed from the phone call my brother had briefly had with Agent Coulson about Phase 2. “You need weapons,” I said, laying out several blueprints on the table, “I happen to be the inventor behind almost everything sold at Katana Enterprises. You would’ve found that meeting with my brother would have proven to be a waste of time due to the fact that he would’ve simply been able to propose a business deal without showing you any actual blueprints,” I nodded to the blueprints. “As co-head of Katana Enterprises and head of the American branch, I am able to promise you a business deal and come to you with prototypes.” I waved my hand at the men standing with briefcases against the far wall and they placed them on the table before Fury, showing him the weapons inside. 

“I didn’t know what kind of weapons you were looking for,” I said as they examined the cases, “so I included a variety including artillery, biochemical and nuclear.” 

Fury had been quiet thus far but finally spoke up, “the kind of weapon you will be building will require intensive study of the base core for the weapon?” 

I frowned, “it won’t be nuclear, biochemical or artillery based?” 

Fury shook his head, “what we are planning on building is another matter entirely. A form of weapon that hasn’t existed since World War 2.” 

I had done my fair share of history research, especially concerning weapons, but I could think of nothing that had existed during the Second World War that didn’t exist now or hadn’t been improved on. 

Unless… “You can’t possibly want me to create a Super Soldier Serum?” I asked. 

Coulson laughed, “no. We’ve had enough accidents trying to recreate that.” My mind flashed back to the Hulk attack that even we had heard about in Japan. 

“Then what?” I asked, my curiosity growing.

“If you agree to work with us,” Fury said, “then you will have to move to one of our facilities in New Mexico to study the item in question and you cannot ever speak about the things you invent or sell them to outside sources.” 

I cocked an eyebrow, “what will I be working with?” Fury slid me a piece of paper, a contract. I read over it quickly, checking all the boxes. I probably should’ve done a more in depth read but I was too curious to discover the secret technology I would be working with. After I had signed it, Agent Hill slid me a manilla file. 

“This is the Tesseract,” she explained as I flipped it open to reveal a blue cube glowing with cosmic power. My eyes widened as I stared at it, remembering the weapons H.Y.D.R.A. had used during the Second World War when technology was barely advanced. Nowadays, with all the modern world had to offer… these weapons could be catastrophic. “We want you to build weapons that can harness its power.” 

“And what exactly do you plan to do with these weapons?” I asked, pushing my conscience down. I was being paid well for this and Katana Enterprises would go down in history. 

“I thought this was a zero-accountability industry?” Fury said, quoting Tony Stark from years ago. “What we do with the weapons is none of your business.” 

I studied him, thinking over my options. If I refused to build the weapons, they would most likely kill me and then find someone else to do it. If I agreed to build the weapons, I could build in a fail safe or a kill switch, one that would prevent them from ever turning the weapons on Japan and my family if America ever decided to use S.H.I.E.L.D.S weapons to wage another World War. 

“I’ll do it,” I said. “Although, I’ll still have to make appearances at events and press conferences and be able to run my company from New Mexico to keep suspicion arousing around my disappearance. We don’t need everyone thinking I’ve been kidnapped like another billionaire we both know.” 

“We don’t care what you do on your free time,” Fury said, “as long as you deliver what was promised.” 

“Then I look forward to working with you,” I got to my feet as the others did as well. “I’ll see you in New Mexico in three days.” 

I left the room, letting out a deep breath to release the tension in my body and trying to push down the sense of foreboding I felt as I packed my bags and went to New Mexico. 

The Tesseract was beautiful and as I worked with it, I felt more and more drawn to it and my inspiration flowed. Within a week, I had enough blueprints, prototypes of weapons, and remodified H.Y.D.R.A. weapons to harness an army. 

“This is incredible work Miss. Kobayashi,” Fury said, studying all the blueprints in the database that I had given him. “Take the weekend off.” 

“Thank you Director,” I said, not bothering to tell him that I never got a weekend off since I split my time running a worldwide company and secretly building weapons for the American Government. 

I had barely landed in Germany when I got a text from Maria Hill, now a good friend of mine. “New Mexico base collapsed. Tesseract missing. Hostile has taken it. Meeting place TBA.” It read and a few minutes later, I got a text with a string of longitude and latitude in the middle of the ocean. 

I sighed, I would deal with this later. I had an art gala to attend on behalf of my brother and to show support to a friend of ours who sold us highly unattainable elements. I would go to S.H.I.E.L.D. when I was finished here. 

I dressed in a beautiful evening gown and made my way to the art gallery attached to the research center, trying not to brush up against people as I moved through the party, finding a place in the front so I could listen to the speech of Dr. Schafer and so that he could see me and understand that my family had sent our support. 

Something moved upstairs and I glanced up, meeting the eyes of a pale man with blue eyes and dark hair, his eyes stared directly into my own as he watched the group of people below. I knew many of the people here but didn’t recognize him at all. He began to walk down the stairs that were directly behind Dr. Schafer and I wondered if he was a special guest or another doctor who worked in the research center but was simply late to the party. But, something told me that that wasn’t the case.

He reached the floor and swung his cane in quick succession, slicing the two bodyguards across the face with his cane and lunging for Schafer. 

I lunged forward, grateful I had taken the time to run around in high heels as a little girl so my dress and shoes weren’t a hindrance as I launched myself at the man, knocking him away from the doctor. 

I looked for any bare skin that I could grab onto but he threw me backwards before I had a chance to touch his face. I slammed into the wall, groaning as I felt bones crack, he was incredibly strong. I channeled my strength into healing them but I remained down, my face screwed up in pain and in concentration as I worked to get back on my feet. 

The man barely studied me for a moment before he teleported across the room and grabbed Dr. Schafer and plunged a device into his eyeball. 

Someone grabbed my arm and began to drag me from the room, I managed to get to my feet but was swept out by the crowd and away from the man who was killing Dr. Schafer. I fought to get back inside but it appeared the man had other ideas. 

The black haired man stepped from the museum, a coy smile across his face as his clothing morphed from a well tailored suit into battle armour. 

He appeared in front of the crowd, stopping them from running and they all surged away from him, only to run into a copy of him on the other side. 

The real one appeared a few steps away from me, “I said, KNEEL!” One by one, the others dropped to their feet and I followed suit. He was only a few feet in front of me, if I could touch him…

“Is not this simpler?” The man said, spreading his arms as if to embrace us. “Is this not your natural state?” I glanced around at the others to see them with heads bowed and trembling. I kept my head raised, studying him, trying to find a weakness, clocking the place where bare skin showed. 

“It’s the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life’s joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled.” At this, I couldn’t keep the anger from sparking inside of me as I glared at him, hands clenched at my sides. His eyes lowered to mine and a grin spread across his face, “In the end, you will always kneel.” I lowered my eyes from his but not in subjugation, no, I was looking for a distraction, something to keep this man busy while I worked. 

Someone shifted behind me and an old man stood to his feet, “not to men like you.” 

Perfect. The blue eyed man turned his eyes on the old man and began to move towards the crowd, heading towards him. I shifted closer, moving towards him and his exposed hand. 

“There are no men like me,” the man said. 

“There are always men like you,” the old man said, standing his ground. 

The man chuckled, lowered his spear towards the man’s chest and I moved quicker, trying to get there in time. “Look to your elders, people, let him be an example.” His scepter began to glow bright blue and I moved, knocking the both of us off of our feet and sending the shot wide. 

“You again,” the man hissed in wicked delight and my hand closed around his bare wrist. 

Power instantly rushed through my veins as I gained the abilities of the man below me. Strength rushed through my bones, my life extended and magic coursed through my veins and holograms of myself appeared across the courtyard as his magic coursed through and out of me. 

I hadn’t felt someone this strong in a while. Memories pounded into my head as I learned about the person who’s magic I was mimicking. 

Loki. 

I was thrown backwards and Loki swung his scepter at me but I dodged, reaching into my dress and pulling out two thin rods, with a flick of my wrist they became elongated double bladed swords and Loki’s eyes ignited with a new challenge as I ran at him, screaming at the top of my lungs as I twirled my blades. 

I focused on learning Loki’s magic as I fought him, trying to find weaknesses in his magic. I realized I had some kind of telepathy as my mind was filled with the fears and screams of the people around me which distracted me from the blow Loki sent to my side and I was thrown aside, blood running down my side. 

I winced, pressing a hand to my side to feel Loki’s stolen magic already healing the wound. My holograms flickered and died but I concentrated on studying the storm of magic inside of me. 

Loki approached me slowly, studying the position I was in, probably debating if I was faking the pain I was in. “What sorcery causes you to steal magic from me?” He asked, lifting my chin with the unsharpened end of his scepter.

“Go to hell,” I hissed and pushed his magic out, blowing him backwards and got to my feet, swinging my swords. 

A jet came flying between the buildings and a red white and blue person joined the fight. “Loki, drop the scepter,” a woman’s voice that I recognized to be Natasha, echoed from the jet. 

Loki responded by firing a blast at the jet. “You okay!” Captain America shouted and I nodded, adjusting my grip on the sword as the two of us charged at Loki again. 

I focused on creating holograms to converge on Loki and he spun up onto his spear, using the end to kick Captain America back into me. 

I brushed against his face as the two of us went tumbling backwards and Loki’s powers rushed from me as his powers were replaced with the super strength, agility and strategy that Captain America had. 

Steve Rodgers, I realized as memories slammed into me. 

I got to my feet as the holograms vanished and I felt the strength cord my muscles and giving me the power to fight Loki, my wound completely healed from Captain America's super serum that now ran in my blood. 

ACDC blasted from the jet and a minute later, Iron Man landed across from me and I snarled, glaring at the tin can suit that Tony Stark claimed made him a superhero. “Make your move Reindeer Games,” Tony said, various missiles popping up from his suit. 

Loki surrendered, his clothing melting away from his armour and back into his three piece suit. 

“Stark,” Captain America said. 

“Captain,” Stark replied and then his eyes landed on me. “Who the hell brought the little Dynamite?” I scowled at the nickname, remembering the incident that had earned me the nickname when I was much younger and had been playing around in my parent’s lab while Stark had been visiting. 

“I was here by invitation of the now dead Dr. Schafer,” I tried for a sweet smile but it was dripping with to much venom. “It looks like you boys have got this from here, I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

“Fury wants you to report to the ship,” Steve started to say but I put up a hand. 

“Tell him I’ve just been through a deep trauma and would like some time to recover,” I sighed dramatically before walking over to the nicest, still functioning car as the police began to pull in. “Sayonara,” I waved over my shoulder before easily hot wiring the car and vanishing into the night. 

My phone rang a few minutes later, Fury on the other end. “What was this I heard about you not coming to the ship?” 

“I’ll be there soon,” I bit back, “at least let me pack for the trip.” 

“I’m expecting you there tomorrow afternoon at the latest,” Fury said, “we’ll need your help now that Loki has the Tesseract. Phase 2 might be skipping the trial phase if Phase 1 fails. Hill will send you the new coordinates.” 

I rolled my eyes, “yes, sir.” I hung up the phone and pulled into the airport where my private jet awaited with several of my things sat under heavy guard and protection. 

I picked up a briefcase, typing in a code and using my fingerprints and eye scan to open the box to reveal a collection of random everyday objects that seemed to be useless. 

In fact, they were useless. Unless, you were someone like me. 

I didn’t need to just touch bare skin to activate my powers, I could also use an item that had a strong emotional connection to a person to channel their powers or something that contained a piece of a person’s soul. 

I studied the items before me, each one different and with their own story. I had collected them over the years, I had always been able to tell when an item held power, it was part of the mimickry powers that I had. 

I picked up a simple clay necklace with the carvings of three animals on three beads; a wolf, an eagle and a horse. I placed the necklace around my neck and felt the familiar rush of power course through me as the shape shifters abilities flowed through me. 

A long dead mother, hunted to her death for her strange magic. Her children killed for their relation to her. I had found this in an antique shop and had touched it accidently as I walked. 

I changed into my superhero suit, knowing I would need to be careful with my identity since I had fought without my mask in front of everyone in Germany. Agent Hill texted me the new location several hours later and I flew in my jet until I was close enough to fly. I touched the eagle bead on the necklace, willing the wings to sprout from my back as I stepped outside the plane, feeling my bones crack and bend as they grew into wings, plunging for only a moment until I was soaring upwards, using my heightened vision to hunt down the Helicarrier. 

A hole opened up in the bottom of the ship and I flew up into the interior of the Helicarrier, slamming into the catwalk below me, making the entire room rattle as I touched the beads once again and the wings vanished. 

I was in a large circular room and hanging in the middle of that room was a glass cage, Loki sitting inside of it and Fury, Loki and all the guards were staring at me. 

I pulled my mask off, grinning. “Sorry I’m late to the party.” I said, not feeling sorry at all. 

“You were supposed to be here last night,” Fury barked, pissed off. 

I shrugged, crossing the floor, aware of Loki’s eyes on me but I continued to ignore him. “No thank you for saving everyone’s ass in Germany?” 

Fury glared at me, “get to the lab, you’re going to help Doctor Banner hunt down the Tesseract.” 

I rolled my eyes, “last I checked, my contract with you didn’t involve being a member of your little superhero group.” 

“Well, it does now,” Fury barked, “unless you want all your research to be for nothing, I suggest you work with Dr. Banner.” 

I gave him a mocking salute, “yes, sir.” I turned and swept a deep bow to Loki, remembering the memories I had seen. He wanted to be a king. “Your highness,” I smirked, noticing the icy rage that played across Loki’s face as I turned and left the room. 

As I walked towards the lab, I heard voices and touched the wolf bead on my necklace and my hearing intensified. “You need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark.” Steve was saying and I froze to listen, intent to hear the end of this argument. Sounded like Tony was causing problems, like normal. 

“You think I’m not? Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before?” Tony continued and I realized they probably didn’t know about Phase 2. I wouldn’t be mentioning that I was heading the project anytime soon, especially since I was working with old H.Y.D.R.A. weapons that I doubted Mr. America would like very much. “What’s Fury not telling us?” 

Alot. 

“I can’t do the equation unless I have all the variables,” Stark continued. Damn him, he was too smart for his own good. 

“You think Fury’s hiding something?” Steve asked cautiously.

“He’s a spy, Captain, he is the spy. His secrets have secrets, it’s bugging him too, isn’t it?” 

There was silence and then Dr. Banner began to speak, “look, I just want to finish my work here and-.” 

“Doctor?” Steve commanded and Banner sighed, planning out his words carefully. 

Should I interrupt this? How mad would they be if they discovered I was working on Phase 2? Would it even matter since we were dealing with Loki? “A warm light for all mankind,” Banner said and I blinked, confused at his words. “Loki’s jab at Fury about the cube.” 

They must have all talked to Loki before I arrived. I would need to get my hands on that footage. “I heard it,” Steve confirmed. 

“Well, I think that was meant for you.” Banner said and I couldn’t see who he was pointing to but I assumed it was Stark. “Even if Barton didn’t tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news.” 

“The Stark Tower, that big ugly building in New York?” I was starting to like Steve more and more with every word. The Katana Enterprise buildings were much more sleek, American architecture was so bulky. 

“It’s powered by an arch reactor- self sustaining energy source.” Yeah, I had seen that on the news and had laughed myself horse at Stark’s attempts to clean his ledger of the blood on it. “That building will run itself for what, a year?”

“It’s just a prototype,” Stark confirmed. “I’m kind of the only name in clean energy right now,” because it was a terrible business that no one could make money in. “That’s what he’s getting at.” Stark explained to Rodgers. 

“So, why didn’t S.H.I.E.L.D. bring him in on the Tesseract project?” Banner said and I realized they were getting a little close to home. “If they’re truly in the energy business, they should’ve brought in the leading expert on clean energy.” 

“Instead, they brought in Rina Kobayashi,” Tony continued, “currently, the co-head of one of the world's leading weapons manufacturers. Now tell me Rodgers, does that not smell fishy to you?” 

I started to walk, intent on stopping this conversation that I had let go too far. Stark and Banner were a team that I hadn’t expected and they were smarter than I gave them credit for. “Are you saying that the energy business is a front? Do you think Miss. Kobayashi is here to use the cube to create weapons?” Rodgers asked. 

“I should probably look into that,” Stark said, “as soon as my encryption program finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secure files,” I froze again, shocked. I should’ve known. 

“I’m sorry, did you say-,” Steve started. 

“JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge,” Tony said and I spun on my heels, heading for the nearest tech room. I would need to trace it back to him if I wanted to stop him from discovering Phase 2. I was sure they wouldn’t be happy about it if they found it, they might even stop their hunt for the Tesseract and the Tesseract was something that I needed. 

“In a few hours, I’ll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever tried to hide,” Stark continued, his voice fading as I raced down the hall. He wouldn’t just find out about Phase 2, he would find out about me. About what really happened in Tokyo five years ago. 

I passed the prison, hearing Loki talking to Natasha and slowed down when I saw the distressed look on her face and heard the pounding of her heart. “Barton told me everything,” Loki said, crossing the room to stare at Natasha. “Your ledger is dripping, its gushing red and you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything? This is the basest sentimentality,” Loki hissed and I stepped further into the room, Natasha noticing I was there but not breaking her concentration with Loki. 

I realized what this was, realizing that Natasha was tricking Loki and slowly turned to back out of the room. “This is a child, a prayer, pathetic!” Loki said and noticed my reflection in the glass. “And you,” he rounded on me, “Dr. Selvig told me about you.”

I blinked in shock before steeling my nerves and stepping further into the room as he continued, “he told me about your cold heart, about the calculations you make that weigh the life of humanity in your hands and you call yourself a superhero. You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be seperate, to have your own code,” Loki continued, his eyes boring into mine and I remembered Stark’s words from years ago ‘I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero-accountability.’ “Something that makes up for the horrors,” Loki said, “but they are apart of you.” I turned away, thinking about what had happened in Tokyo. Thinking about what I had done, what I had tried to forget. “And they will never go away.” 

As I ran from the room, Loki fixed his eyes back on Natasha and slammed his hand on the glass and I touched the bead, letting my enhanced hearing fade away as I ran towards the bridge where I heard people shouting. I realized I was shaking as I tried to push the memories down and lock them away. 

I raced onto the bridge to see Fury and Maria standing over a computer that was tracing the virus that had leaked into their system. Tony had succeeded it seemed. 

“Stark,” I said in greeting and jerked my chin to the lab. “Looks like my warning comes a little late.” 

Before Fury could move, Natasha’s voice came over my earpiece. “Loki means to unleash the Hulk, keep Banner in the lab, I’m on my way. Send Thor as well.” 

My eyes widened and I sprinted from the room, Fury behind me. I raced into the lab, skidding to a stop as Tony and Banner stared at me. “Oh good, just the person we wanted to see,” Stark said, turning a monitor towards me so I could see the blueprints for several large weapons, all signed with my signature. “Would you care to explain this?” 

I opened my mouth but before I could answer, Fury came stalking into the room. “What are you doing, Mr. Stark?” 

“Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you,” Stark said, “and you,” he pointed to me, “I actually liked you. I thought the next generation was supposed to be smarter than mine and save the world and all that… but instead you’re creating weapons of mass destruction.” I had no time to feel guilty before Fury continued to talk. 

“You’re supposed to be locating the Tesseract,” Fury cut in. “Not snooping around our files.” 

“We are locating the Tesseract,” Banner pointed to a monitor sweeping the planet. “The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile.”

“And you’ll get your cube back,” Stark said, eating blueberries, “no muss, no fuss. What I want to talk about is, what is Phase 2?” 

Captain America walked in the room and dropped an old H.Y.D.R.A. weapon on the counter, his face filled with pure rage. I winced, realizing we were in for it now. 

“Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the cube to make weapons,” Steve said, “sorry, the computer was moving a little slow for me.” 

They all turned to look at me and Fury and since Fury had always had so much to say, I waited for him to speak. “Rodgers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract, that doesn’t mean that…” 

“I’m sorry,” Tony swung the monitor so Fury could see my blueprints, “what were you lying?” 

“I was wrong director,” Steve said, “the world hasn’t changed a bit.” 

“I’m still confused as to why Rina is working with you,” Stark said before turning to me, “it was a pretty desperate move to hire an international weapons manufacturer when you have bloodthirsty people like Justin Hammer lying around. Why did you pick her? And why did you agree to work with him?” He asked. “What does Fury have on you?” Stark was getting too close to home. 

I didn’t answer and Tony shrugged, “well, we can always find out,” he began to type my name into the system and I cracked, I didn’t want anyone to know about Tokyo. 

“Fury came to me to build the weapons because I’ve worked with experimental tech before,” I said, speaking loudly so Tony would stop researching me. “I was the best choice.” 

Natasha and Thor came walking into the room. “Do you want to think about removing yourself from this environment Doctor?” 

“I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed,” Banner said. 

“Loki’s manipulating you,” Natasha said, trying her best to stay calm. 

“And you’ve been doing what exactly?” 

“You didn’t come here because I batted my eyelashes at you.” 

“And I’m not going to leave because you suddenly get a little twitchy,” Banner said, “what I want to know is why work with the Americans in the first place? You have nothing to gain from them and they had everything to gain.” 

I hesitated but decided to come clean. “If I had said no, Fury would have found someone else and then I would have had no hand in the creation of America’s weapons. If I made them, I could ensure that I could destroy them later if America decided to turn them against us.” 

They all blinked at me and Fury turned to me, “what are you saying Kobayashi? Did you build in a self destruct button?”

I shrugged, “of sorts.” 

“Unbelievable,” Stark said, “you’re always watching your back.” 

“I’m no more paranoid than the man who builds a suit of armour around himself,” I bit back. 

“Why even build weapons of mass destruction in the first place? S.H.I.E.L.D. is supposed to be about protection,” Steve said. “Or at least it was.” 

Everyone started to argue back and forth, talking over each other. Until Bruce cut in and we all quieted as he began to get angry. “It's his M.O., isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're... we're a time-bomb.” 

“You need to step away,” Fury said. 

“Why shouldn’t the guy let off some steam,” Tony said, putting his arm around Steve. 

“You know damn well why,” Steve said, hitting his arm off and rounding on him and they started to argue again. “You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero.” Steve said and I couldn’t help but applaud him. I wish I had some popcorn right now but I settled for Stark’s discarded bag of blueberries. I noticed Banner eyeing the scepter and began to inch my way over too him. I didn’t want Loki running rampage on the ship as much as anyone so I moved to grab the scepter if necessary. 

“A hero? Like you? You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!” Tony shot back and I paused, feeling the power of the burn. If there was one thing Tony Stark could do better than me, it was throwing insults. 

“Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr.Banner back to his…,” Fury started to say. 

“Where? You rented my room.” Banner said, his anger growing and his hand started to inch towards the scepter. 

“The cell was just in case…,” Fury tried to say. 

“In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!” The entire room froze, unsure what to do. “I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out! So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!” He turned to Natasha, who looked a little nervous as her hand drifted down for her gun and Banner reached back for the scepter. I moved, stepping behind him, ready to grab it and try not to make him angry. “You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?”

“Doctor Banner... put down the scepter.” Steve said cautiously. Banner looked down in shock, as if he hadn’t realized he was holding Loki’s scepter. 

The computer beeped in the silence and everyone turned to look at the location of the Tesseract. “Got it,” Tony said, quickly crossing the room to look at it. 

Banner dropped the Tesseract on the table, “Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all.” 

Fury turned to me, “check on Loki. I want you to watch him and make sure he isn’t going to try anything while we’re all here.” 

I nodded but my eyes stayed on the scepter, studying it. “Miss. Kobayashi,” Fury barked and my eyes flew to him, “go.” 

I peeled from the room, listening to everyone arguing as I made my way to Loki’s cell. I was halfway there when an explosion rocked the ship and I fell three stories as the ground gave out from underneath me. 

I grabbed my beads, summoning the wings so I wouldn’t fall from the side of the ship and into the open air. 

I clawed my way back onto the ship, breathing heavily as I panicked but I kept that panic in check until I was back on the ship and away from imminent danger of fall from the ship. My ear piece had been damaged but I caught a few words through the static, “hostiles...stolen uniforms...Loki.” 

I quickly got my bearings of the ship before racing for Loki’s cell, the explosion had been perfectly placed, drawing everyone away from the side of the ship where Loki was being held. As I picked my way through the debris around the explosion, I found something I wasn’t expecting. 

The blue and gold scepter glittered up and me and I leaned down and picked it up without a second thought. I fell to my knees, screaming as the power inside the scepter hit me full force. 

My body contorted in pain as the magic inside the stone flooded my system and my mind stretched to encompass every little thing on the ship; I was overcome with a cacophony of thoughts all pounding into my head at once as people screamed and cried and tried to stop the ship from falling out of the sky. I could see every inch of the ship through the eyes of everyone on board and the feelings and emotions of everyone slammed into me at the same time as the pain did from the people half crushed and bleeding out from the explosion around me. 

I was being burned and crushed and pierced with shrapnel without it ever breaking my skin. My head was splitting open from the thoughts pounding into my head and my body felt non-existent, like I had simply turned into a giant hive mind. 

In the chaos, I felt a string, a string reaching out for someone and tethering them in the chaos around me. I followed that string, wondering if it would tether me too, praying it would stop the chaos inside of me. 

I found another person's mind at the end of the tether, fighting against the chaos the tether connected it too. The mind on the other side was twisted and dark and the chaos of the Mind Stone, which I now knew I was holding, was using that chaos to twist their thoughts and feelings. 

I reached out for the mind, brushing up against it with the strange power within me, either to call out for help or to find out what was going on. As I touched the mind, I was met with a magic I had wielded once. 

Loki. 

His mind responded to me, as if aware I was there and the Mind Stone attacked me viciously, pushing and pulling me away from him. It didn’t want me to break it’s hold on him. 

I was thrown back into the chaos, losing the tether and I screamed as I was swept back down into the pain and terror around me. I tried to see what was happening, I tried to focus on one thing but everything was pounding me at once. I saw Natasha running from the Hulk, tasting her fear and feeling the broken ribs pulsing with pain with each step she ran to escape. I saw the terror and fear of Banner inside Hulk’s mind, I felt the unattainable rage of the Hulk as he chased Natasha. 

At the same time I saw Steve and Tony trying to fix the ship, I saw Barton firing arrows at his friends, his mind screaming but his body not listening. I saw Coulson’s plan to keep Loki contained and I saw Thor saving Hulk. 

I could see everything all at once and I hated it. I didn’t want this pain and this terror, I saw into Tony Starks head. I saw the fear and self doubt that plagued him everyday and I felt guilt. So much guilt. 

The explosion had called up too many memories, memories of a young american boy dying from his own weapons. I watched as he was embedded with shrapnel and how he was alive with a magnet in his chest. 

I sobbed, feeling that guilt and that terror and realized what exactly those weapons had done to him and his friends. That guilt swept over me and I tried to focus on a different mind, on something else. 

“The humans think us immortal, shall we test that?”

“Barton is heading for the detention level, does anyone copy?” 

“I copy.” 

“CAP, PULL THE LEVER!” 

“Little busy!” 

“LEVER NOW!” 

“So, that’s what it does?”

Suddenly, everything stopped and I gasped for air, falling into someone’s arms as the scepter was yanked from my grasp. 

A male laughed rumbled through me and I glanced up through tear filled eyes at the face of Loki. 

I pulled backwards but simply collapsed on the ground, completely drained from the powers of the Mind Stone. I couldn’t scramble backwards as Loki lowered the spear to my chest, directly over my heart. “You shouldn’t have touched that.” 

“Thanks for the heads up,” I gasped out, trying to find the strength to move my body. I reached for the beads at my neck but Loki stopped me. 

“Don’t touch those,” he tisked, “you’ve already drained yourself so much, it’ll probably kill you.” 

I spit blood, snarling at him, “what’s it to you? Don’t you want me dead?”   
Loki frowned, his eyes flickered between blue and green as if the question had made the Mind Stone release its hold for a few seconds. “No…” Loki said, “he wants you alive though.” 

“He?” Terror soared through me although I didn’t know why. Who was He? “Who?”

“I…” Loki’s eyes solidified back to blue and his unsure demeanor vanished. “Sadly, I don’t have enough time to enjoy your death. Instead, I think I’ll leave you here while I destroy your entire world. Starting with New York.” Loki vanished and I was left on the floor, staring at nothing, trying to find the strength to move. 

The Mind Stone’s powers have vanished from me after I had touched them, which didn’t normally happen. Usually, I retained powers until I touched someone else with a different power but the Mind Stone had mostly faded from my system but I could still feel the power in my veins, like an echo. The tether to Loki’s mind was still there, like I had solidified it between us when I had grabbed onto it in my panic and I could still faintly feel the Mind Stone’s power pulsing inside of me, just out of reach, as if lying dormant. 

My hands shook as I struggled to sit up, realizing I was completely buried in debris. I could still feel the minds of some people around me but only if I concentrated and it wasn’t like the wave of feelings I had gotten before. 

It felt like hours later that I was able to move and shift some of the debris so I could crawl back into the main part of the base. I landed at the feet of Iron Man who reached down and helped me up.

“Are you okay?” Stark asked, his mask pulling back so he could look at me. I nodded and he continued, “we’re going after Loki. The Tesseract is at Stark Tower and he plans to open a portal and bring through an army.” 

No, Loki couldn’t open a portal. If he did that then… 

“Can you fight?” Tony asked me. 

I gave him a small smile, “I can.” 

“Then suit up, wheels up in five.” 

I climbed on a ship along with Natasha, Clint and Steve. “You’re coming too?” Steve asked, confused. “Do you have any training?” 

“I can vouch for her,” Natasha said from the co-pilots seat, “she’s kicked my ass before, she’ll be fine out there.” 

Steve nodded, impressed. “Alright. Get ready for war.” 

And with that, we were shooting off for New York.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two   
Rina 

I stared up at the portal that had opened up in the sky, I had seen something like this before underneath the city of Tokyo but this didn’t stop the rush of fear and disbelief that ran through me as I watched an army of Chitauri fly into the city. 

Something flashed in my mind, almost like a memory but I had no recollection of ever experiencing it. It was as if I had fought the Chitauri before. It was as if I had seen this before. 

“Alright, listen up,” Steve said, calling the attention of all of us to him. “Until we can close that portal up there, we're gonna use containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or your turn it to ash.” Rodgers ordered and for once, Stark listened as he flew off with Barton. 

Captain America continued, “Thor, you've gotta try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You've got the lightning. Light the bastards up.” Thor took off, leaving the three of us on the ground. “You and me, we stay here on the ground,” he said to Natasha, “keep the fighting here. And Hulk. SMASH.” Hulk grinned and took a leaping jump onto the side of the building and smashing Chitauri like it was nothing. 

“What about me?” I asked. 

“You find Loki, you said he’s under mind control, then you’ve got to be the one to break it.” Steve said. 

I had given them a rundown of what had happened to me on the jet and had explained my powers to them as well but refused to go into detail of how I had gotten them. I nodded, still able to feel the tether between my mind and Loki’s that connected us both to the Mind Stone. “I’ll be back.” I had refused to touch anything else in case I lost that connection to the mind stone so it looked like I’d have to take the stairs to get to the top of Stark Tower. 

I took the motorcycle Banner had been using and shot towards the Tower, slicing into aliens with my double bladed swords as I drove, using the Mind Stone’s powers to break into their minds and turn them away from me. 

Each time I used the Mind Stone’s powers, the greater those powers surged through me and I knew it would only be a matter of time until I was rendered helpless in the middle of New York but I pressed on, knowing I needed to stop this. 

If I didn’t stop it soon, the portal could rip a hole in the space time continuum which would leave our world vulnerable to attacks from other planets but also from other dimensions. 

I couldn’t let that happen to Earth. Not again. 

I pushed down the memories of the red portal that had opened up into a fiery world underneath Katana Enterprises and the monsters that had crawled out of it as I parked at the base of the tower and climbed into the elevator, shooting up for the roof. 

I wasn’t sure if the acoustic version of Back In Black by ACDC was just one of Tony’s stupid attempts at being funny but I was able to apriciate the humor of standing in a silent elevator, listening to music while the world ended outside. 

The elevator opened and the chaos quickly found me as I raced out onto the destroyed floor of Tony’s penthouse. There was a gaping hole in the wall and I could see the battle raging all around and below me as I stared out of the broken window and at the city below. 

I tried to hunt down Loki, trying to find that tether to the Mind Stone and his scepter in all the confusion, instead I realized that I had been tracking his scepter the entire time and not him as my eyes found the scepter sitting on a half destroyed balcony below me, I glanced around, looking for a way to get to it but also not wanting to touch it again. 

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the sky above me and a minute later, a body slammed into mine. 

I was thrown backwards and my cheek brushed up against skin and the Mind Stone’s powers faded, replacing them with powers I knew well. 

“We’ve really got to stop meeting like this,” I hissed as I scrambled off of Loki and picked up my two double bladed swords. 

Loki laughed, breathless, as he got to his feet. “Trust me, it wasn’t planned.” His magic surged around him and mine responded to his. “Interesting,” he said, studying me. His eyes were green as they met mine. 

“Close the portal Loki,” I said, wondering if his eye color was a sign of the mind control weakening, especially since the color was so similar to the scepter and the Tesseract. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with.” 

“And you do?” He asked, taking a step towards me. I stood my ground, his magic swirling in my veins. 

I didn’t answer but the memories flashed through my mind, the monsters I had seen, the portal that had opened, the villain I had faced. 

Loki’s eyes sparked, “you might have stolen my magic but you don’t know how to control it yet. What demons have you faced?” I realized he had seen my memories and I worked to build a shield and shut him out but it only made the magic inside of me more impossible to control. I hated borrowing powers from people who used magic because it was always unpredictable and unique, built to cater to only the ones who owned it and not the one who stole it. 

“Get out of my head,” I adjusted the grip with my swords and Loki noticed the movement, reaching for a scepter that wasn’t there. His eyes flashed from green back to blue and he seemed to snap out of whatever he was thinking of. 

A roar sounded behind me and I was thrown to the side as the Hulk grabbed Loki and threw him around the room, leaving him groaning in pain on the ground. 

I crouched behind the half destroyed minibar, my heart pounding as the Hulk shuffled around and the minibar vanished from around me as the Hulk picked it up and threw it across the room. 

An involuntary scream ripped from me as I rolled out of the way as his fist came down on the floor, cracking it. The magic surged inside of me and the Hulk was blasted out of the tower. 

I turned and raced from the room, only to find the scepter missing. Natasha was making her way to the roof holding it and I followed after her. 

I climbed onto the portal, Dr. Selvig’s eyes were no longer glowing blue and he looked back to normal besides the giant gash on his head. “Put the scepter in the center, right at the crown!” He shouted and Natasha moved the scepter, breaking down the shield around the Tesseract. 

Suddenly, a huge roar echoed from above and I glanced up, my heart stopping as I realized what I was looking at. 

The same sequence of memories flashed before my eyes, memories that I had no recollection of as I looked at the giant floating lizard in the sky, a man as big as a house with dark armour and swords the size of me strapped to his back. His eyes were glassy and seemed to contain universes inside of them as he peered down at me. 

And smiled. 

He raised his sword, pointing it right at me and all the Chitauri turned to the rooftop, cheering. 

“CLOSE IT!” I screamed, “NOW!” I kept screaming, terror unlike anything I had ever felt filled me. I had never been more terrified of anyone in my entire life and his eyes… his eyes held entire worlds in them, entire galaxies. And he knew me. He wanted me. 

“WAIT!” Stark shouted back, “I have a nuke heading straight for New York. And I know just where to put it.” 

The Chitauri flew for us as Natasha struggled to hold the scepter inside the Tesseract. I still had Loki’s magic inside of me so I channeled it into pushing outwards, keeping the Chitauri at bay with blasts of green magic but I knew I wouldn’t be able to last long, I wasn’t using this magic properly and I was drained from the battle from earlier. 

The man in the portal shouted a command, the tenor of his voice seemed to rattle my very bones but I couldn’t hear what he said. Don’t let him get you. My own voice spoke in my mind, frantic with terror. Don’t let him get you! More memories that I don’t recall flashed before my eyes of the face of that terrifying man as he slapped me across the face and tortured me for hours. 

Tony shot by us and flew up into the wormhole, his nuke aimed straight for the man on the lizard and the battleship behind him. 

Something slammed into me in my distraction and the Chitauri broke through my magic, swarming me and Natasha. I swung with my swords and lashed out with Loki’s magic, trying to stop them but they were grabbing me, trying to drag me off the roof. 

The scepter went clattering to the floor and I lunged for it, trying to reach it before the Chitauri did but someone beat me to it. Loki picked up his scepter and thrust it into the Tesseract as above us, the portal exploded as Stark’s missile hit home. The man on the lizard roared, fire consuming them. 

The shield around the Tesseract vanished and the portal began to close but I still didn’t see Stark. The Chitauri roared and began to collapse but one of them didn’t and they grabbed the Tesseract, soaring up into the sky and into the coming explosion. “The Tesseract!” I shouted, lunging for a discarded speeder but the Chitauri carrying it vanished into the portal.

“Where’s Tony?” Natasha asked and I noticed a tiny gold and red corpse falling from the sky. Before either of us could move, the Hulk grabbed him and I turned to face Loki who was standing on the roof, the scepter drooping in his hand as he looked to where the Tesseract and the portal had vanished. 

“Loki?” I asked cautiously. 

Loki’s eyes landed on me, the green in them much more striking now that the influence of the Tesseract was gone. “Rina,” he said with a familiarity that made me uncomfortable. I had no idea how he knew my name, and why was he looking at me like that? 

Loki must have either sensed my uncomfortableness or had read my mind because the softness faded from my eyes as he turned to face Natasha, gripping the scepter tightly. “Why did you save us?” Natasha asked, a casual hand on her weapon. 

Loki gritted his teeth, “when the others arrive, I will explain. I have no intention of repeating myself.” 

We stood awkwardly on the roof as we waited for the others to arrive. “Uh, thanks,” I said after a minute, motioning to the scepter. 

“Don’t thank me for closing the portal yet, the Tesseract is still missing.” 

“K,” I said, going silent again. A moment later Thor, Steve and Tony landed on the roof, Tony’s armour half broken off of him and only one propeller working. 

Thor raised his hammer, as if to pound Loki into the ground, “brother,” Loki protested, raising the hand that wasn’t holding the scepter. 

“Thor, wait!” I shouted out, “he was under mind control. He was the one who closed the portal.” 

Steve, Tony and Thor blinked at us. “You’re telling me Reindeer Games went all noble on us?” Tony asked, “he saved us?” 

“Yes Stark, that’s exactly what they’re saying,” Loki said, his eyes glinting maliciously. “I had no intention of returning to Kang after I had failed.”

“Wait,” I put up a hand, “who is Kang?” For some reason, the name sent a spark of fear deep into my bones, like I had heard that name many times and had come to fear it but I had never heard it before. 

“I think he’s spitballing,” Tony suggested, “trying to save his ass once he realized he was losing.” 

“What games do you play?” Thor asked his brother, “you claim to have been influenced by magic this entire time yet you are the god of magic and mischief.” 

Loki gave a tiny chuckle, “I can prove my innocence,” he held out the scepter, hilt first to Thor. “I’m giving this to you in good faith. This scepter contains a colossal amount of power and I could easily kill you all in seconds with it. Consider it a… peace offering.” 

“I don’t like it,” Steve said, “why should we trust you?” 

“And how did you survive your fall into space?” Thor asked. 

“And who the hell is Kang?” I asked again. 

Loki put up his hands to stop his questioning. “I will answer your questions as long as you promise me one thing.” 

“Let me guess, you want a crown?” Steve spat venomously. 

“On the contrary, I want protection.” Loki said and it shocked us all. “I have fallen out of favor with my master and he will be looking to kill me. And, since my father refuses my return to Asgard, I will be stuck here.” 

“Why come to us?” Steve asked, “what motivation do you have not to kill us?”

Loki’s eyes flickered to me, “I made a promise to someone, a lifetime ago. And now, I intend to keep it.” 

“What kind of bullshit answer is that?” Tony asked, “that’s not a good enough reason.” 

“Fine, because I can tell you exactly who hired me to attack Earth and help you stop them when they come back. Because, they will come.” Loki assured us.

“Who was that man?” Steve asked. 

Loki’s eyes found mine again, “Kang the Conqueror.” Why was it that each time he spoke that name, I trembled with terror? “He is an entity able to travel through time and reality. He stalks other worlds - other dimensions - and uses his powers to take them over, one by one. He hunts for a weapon, something that will make his powers unstoppable so he can reach and conquer all the worlds at once.” 

“What kind of weapon?” Steve continued to interrogate him. 

“No one has ever seen it but it has the power to wield the infinity stones at once and use their power even when the stones have been taken from it,” Loki said. 

“How do you know so much about this?” 

“When I fell from Asgard,” Loki said, “I floated through space and was sucked into a black hole, finding myself in another dimension and in the clutches of Kang the Conqueror in his fortress that knows no time. There, I was kept for centuries, never aging or changing, as he tortured me and broke into my mind. I wasn’t his only prisoner,” his eyes flickered to mine again, “but I was one of the few survivors. When he had broken into my mind, he used my greed and lust for power against me and sent me here to hunt down a piece of his weapon.” 

“A piece?”

Loki nodded, “the weapon lies scattered across many realities but Kang believed this reality holds the largest piece. I was supposed to find it and then bring it to him.” 

“And you failed him, why?” 

“I broke from his mind control and I had no desire to hand over the weapon to him since I would have to live in the worlds he destroyed and ruled and I had no intention of doing that.” 

“Such a noble reason,” I smirked. 

Natasha had been moving through the group silently as we talked and now she stood just to the side of Loki. “Well, why don’t we move this conversation somewhere more comfortable.” With a flick of her wrist, thick handcuffs slammed down around him, locking with an intricate lock to keep him from escaping. 

“Really?” Loki asked. “After all my corporation.” 

“I promised protection,” Tony said, “not freedom.” He grabbed Loki by an arm and Thor took his other arm. “Isn’t a good thing I’m paranoid and keep a god level cage in my basement?”

We took the elevator, which was somehow still functional in the chaos and found ourselves in a basement with a white cell with a thick panel of glass that shone with a golden magic over it. “Thor happened to give some input to Fury about the dungeons on Asgard and they let me play around with it,” Tony explained at Thor’s surprised look. “It’s not as strong as the golden walls you talk about but it should do the trick.” 

We put Loki inside and he looked at us through the glass and golden light, making him appear slightly disoriented. “There’s a little bathroom attached that’s monitored by JARVIS, our AI, and food will be delivered three times a day,” Tony explained. 

“And how long do you plan on keeping me in here?” Loki asked, his eyes glowing with rage. 

“Until we come to an agreement with S.H.I.E.L.D. or Asgard, or you become trustworthy,” Tony shot back. “Take it or leave it Reindeer Games.” 

Loki glanced around his cage, “when Kang comes, I shall be the only safe one,” he finally declared before laying on his bed, the handcuffs falling from around his wrist. I didn’t like the sound of that. 

“Brother,” Thor said, stepping up to the glass, “I am most happy you are still alive.” 

Loki didn’t respond. 

“I will try to work out with father about your return,” Thor continued, “and I will relay to mother the news that you live. If I can, I would be happy to bring her a message.” 

Loki turned his eyes to Thor, staring at him. “I have no family Thor.” He turned back to staring at the ceiling. 

Thor turned and blinked at me, I realized I was the only one still left in the room. The Avengers had vanished. I stepped aside as he stormed out and then turned to follow him. 

I glanced back once to find Loki’s eyes on me, seeming to bore into mine as I left the room. I swore I felt the powers of the Mind Stone stir inside of me as I walked but I knew it was impossible for me to hold onto powers after I had touched someone else and gained their magic. It was some leftover effect of Loki’s magic.   
***  
Loki 

She had no memory of me which was too be expected since she wasn’t the Rina I knew, not the ruthless mad woman who had fought against Kang’s torture for centuries longer then I ever could. 

She was not the woman who had blown herself apart rather than work for Kang, rather than be his weapon. 

I had thought her dead. I had thought Kang’s weapon had been blown to pieces but it appeared I had been wrong. Kang had suspected that Rina’s powers would have latched onto the Rina’s from a different reality and he had sent his minions to get them. I had been sent after the biggest piece of her powers that had latched onto Earth’s version of Rina. 

Kang had put too much trust in the control over my mind, he had put too little faith in my ability to break free but the beating from the Hulk and Rina’s accidental manipulation of the Mind Stone’s magic had left me with a way out. A lifeline in the chaos and when I had seen her, I had been shocked. 

But it was not her, not really. This world’s Rina was different. Soft. Spoiled. So, I had no qualms using her as Kang had planned to use the Rina I had known. 

Rina had touched the Mind Stone and she would soon realize that the powers of the Mind Stone had not left her, she would begin to realize exactly the kind of powers she possessed. That she was the weapon Kang searched for. 

I glanced around the gilded walls of the cage I was in, I had to get out of here and I had to befriend Rina. I had to gain her friendship and her trust so I could gain control of her powers and use them to take down Kang and anyone who stood in my way. 

I would use her powers to make me a king over an entire world, not just one little planet. With her powers, I would become the most powerful king of all time. 

First, I needed a plan. 

And secondly, I needed a way out of this cage.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three  
Rina 

I dreamed I was chained to a wall of black adamant, watching Loki get tortured, watching as Kang broke into his mind bit by bit. 

Kang had chosen a new form of torture this past year, he was using his powers over reality to warp Loki’s mind and live through thousands of diffirent situations, up to the point where Loki couldn’t tell if he was asleep or awake and no amount of convincing could prove to him that I was real and that he would be okay. 

I woke up shaken, wondering why the dream had felt like a memory and had been so real. The tower was still mostly trashed and over breakfast we debated on what to do, “Natasha and I need to get back to S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Clint said, “they’ll need us for recon and clean up.” 

“I’ll get started on the tower repairs,” Tony said, “Rodgers, want to stick around?” 

Steve shrugged, “if you’ll have me.” 

“I must return to Asgard to question my father on what to do about Loki and plead his case but I doubt he will let him return. Is it alright if I leave him here while I am gone?” 

Tony thought about it, “we should be fine. As long as Rina uses her magic mojo to use his magic against him.” 

“Whoa,” I put up a hand, “I have a company to run along with the entire country of Japan. I haven’t posted on Instagram in a week and a half and the internet thinks I died during Loki’s attack in Germany.” 

Clint sighed, “the terrible life of a billionaire.” 

I cracked a smile, “don’t worry, I’ll only be gone for a few days and then I’ll come back. Although I’m going to have to think of an excuse for coming around more often.” I thought aloud.

“I actually had an idea for that,” Tony spoke up. “Why doesn’t Stark Industries and Katana Enterprises do a little business deal together. You can sink some money in on the clean energy projects and you can come stay at the tower to study it and improve it. Especially since you’ve somehow been a superhero for who knows how long and deserve a spot on the team.” 

I grinned, “unlike you Stark, I have the ability to keep my ego from letting the entire world know I’m a superhero.” 

Tony rolled his eyes, pounding me on the back, “so, is that a yes?” 

I sighed, “I’ll talk to my brother this week but I doubt he’ll have any objections. I’ll also help with the rebuilding of the tower so we can claim that Stark Industries and Katana Enterprises has finally put our differences behind us.” 

“And I think you should sign a statement that states that I’m better,” Tony tried to joke as we shook hands. 

“Not a chance Stark,” I said. “I’ll go to Japan after breakfast and make the proper preparations and let my brother know that I’m still alive.” 

“Sounds good,” Tony said, “and Banner? You’re sticking around right? The lab has a bunch of fun toys, it’s like Christmas.” 

Banner cracked a grin, “I couldn’t leave the two of you unsupervised. The world would descend into chaos.” Tony and I both exchanged looks before grinning at Banner. 

It seemed Stark wasn’t all bad. 

After breakfast, everyone left to do their own things but before I left for Japan, I had one more thing to take care of. 

When I had touched Tony’s hand, Loki’s powers had faded away to nothing but I could still feel something in my stomach, like something was sleeping.

I made my way into the basement, finding Loki awake and in the same position I had left him in, staring aimlessly at the ceiling. 

“Come to say goodbye?” Loki asked, not moving from his bed. 

“No,” I said, “I’m sticking around.” I crossed closer, sitting in a chair outside his cell and watching him closely. 

“Ask your questions,” Loki said after we sat in silence. 

I hesitated, “how much do you remember?”

Loki sat up, spinning on his bed to face me head on, leaning on his knees as his eyes bore into mine. “I remember everything.” 

I swallowed, “then you know what I am here to ask.” 

Loki nodded, “you want to know exactly what Dr. Selvig told me about you. And what Barton said as well.” 

“I know you must have asked them about powerful people and I know Barton and Selvig both gave you two very different stories.” 

“Selvig only knew you as the cold hearted weapons manufacturer from Japan. A woman there to do her job in inventing weapons of mass destruction,” Loki said. “Barton had a different story.” 

I waited, crossing my arms and leaning back in my chair. 

Loki sighed, wondering where to begin. “Barton told me about an incident in Tokyo, five years ago.” I swallowed, trying not to let my nerves show. S.H.I.E.L.D. had shown up in the middle of all the chaos but I had been the one to stop it. “He talked about a portal that opened into another dimension, a portal to what looked like hell. He said you were human before you went in but you weren’t human when you came back out. He said the devil himself kidnapped you and kept you with him in his palace in hell for days until you somehow discovered you had powers and escaped.” 

I nodded, “it wasn’t the devil but it was damn close. His name is Mephisto and he killed my parents after I accidentally opened a portal to another dimension while I was experimenting in the lab.” I pushed back the terrifying memories down, not wanting Loki to see but I assumed he was still reading my mine by the way his eyes glossed over as the memories flashed in my mind. 

“I’m sorry,” Loki said and he sounded sincere. “Barton didn’t tell me how you defeated Mephisto.” 

I swallowed, “I sealed the gateway.” I didn’t really want to go into detail, “but it was conditional on the idea of no one ever opening a portal again. Mephisto slipped through the cracks between worlds, that’s how he got to Earth and each time you open a portal to another dimension, another crack appears.” 

“You think the Tesseract might have opened a door for Mephisto to slip into,” Loki finished for me. 

I took a deep breath, gaining control of my panic. “I can’t stop him a second time.” 

“Not alone,” Loki said, his eyes boring into mine. “But, you aren’t alone this time.” 

I held his gaze for a moment before blinking and getting to my feet. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all this,” I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to stop their shaking. “I’ll be back later. Do you want anything?” 

“Books,” Loki said automatically, “if I’m going to rot in here, then I might as well as rot my brain as well with the Migard reading selections.” 

I cocked an eyebrow, “don’t diss our literature so quickly. What kind of reading do you usually enjoy?” 

“Asguardian poetry, theatre, the occasional fiction,” he said. 

I nodded, “I have a few things you might enjoy.” I crossed the floor, heading for the door. “I’ll be back in a few days, try not to destroy the world while I’m gone.” 

“No promises,” Loki’s words followed me out as I swung the door shut to find Thor leaning against the hallway wall. 

“Oh Thor,” for some reason I felt embarrassed to be caught talking to his brother but I pushed the feeling down. 

“Don’t be worried Rina,” Thor said, “I am grateful my brother is talking.” 

I nodded, “he wants books. I’ll bring a few around when I return.” 

Thor nodded, “I leave for Asgard now but would you like me to take you to your lands of Japan first?” 

I raised my eyebrows, “you’d do that?” 

Thor nodded, “the bifrost would make your journey much easier.” 

“Thank you,” I said, “when do we leave?” 

“Right now,” Thor said as we walked out of the basement and into the lobby. We stepped outside onto the sidewalk amid the rubble that was still hanging around after the battle and the dust clogging the air, reminding me of the attack on Tokyo. 

People stopped to stare at us and I realized I was without my mask and suit. Right now I was just Rina Kobayashi leaving Stark Tower, I wasn’t sure which one would draw more attention. 

“HEIMDALL!” Thor shouted and rainbow light surrounded us and suddenly we were flying through the air, my hand tight around Thor’s arm until we landed in the center of downtown Tokyo, sending people scrambling in all directions. 

I couldn’t keep the smile from my face, “that was incredible! How does it work? It’s like an Einstein-Rosen bridge!” I started to ramble science and Thor put up a hand to stop me. 

“Jane Foster is a scientist in London, you might have met her at S.H.I.E.L.D. but she’s been studying the bifrost for years.” Thor said, “if you would like to know more, I might suggest talking to her because my Midgardian termanology is a little lacking.” 

I grinned, “I will. Thank you Thor.” 

“No,” Thor said, “thank you.” He leaned down and kissed my hand before stepping a few feet back to me, “HEIMDALL!” Rainbow light surrounded him and he shot back into space. 

People immediately engulfed me, asking for autographs and photos which was something I was used to by now. 

I signed a few photos, talking back and forth in my native language of Japanese before eventually making my way to the tower at the end of the block. 

Yuki was sitting outside the tower, sipping tea as he waited for me to approach. “You’ve been busy,” he pushed the tabloid he was reading across the table to me where a photo of me fighting in the Battle of New York when my mask had fallen off and my face was revealed. “Looks like your cover is blown,” he said with a crooked grin. 

I rolled my eyes, “looks like you’re out of a job as ‘guy in the chair.’” 

“Oh no,” Yuki moaned, “whatever will I do?”

“Die,” I deadpanned. “Also, I’ve made a deal with Stark Industries, we’re friends now, I’m drafting up the papers tonight before I’m going back to help rebuild Stark Tower.” 

Yuki frowned, “alright but we’re not giving them any money. It was Stark’s fault that he decided to shut down his weapons manufacturing and lose a billion dollars.” 

I rolled my eyes, “obviously I wasn’t planning on spending any money on helping the planet.” 

Yuki picked back up his tea, taking a sip, “and don’t forget, you have a company to run.” 

“So do you,” I protested, picking up the magazine and overcome with the sudden urge to splash my brother’s tea in his face. 

I grinned and hit the bottom of his cup, spilling the contents all over his suit and tie. “How dare you! This is an Issey Miyake!” 

I raced into the elevator, howling with laughter and shot up to the top floor, quickly packing my bags and drafting up the papers for Stark Industries. I spent the next two days with my brother, making sure everything was set for my trip. 

“My little baby is all grown up and saving...Japan,” Yuki tried to joke, quoting Mulan, our least favorite Disney movie.

“I’m saving the world dumbass, that’s ten times better.” I said as I left the room. 

“Oh wait, I have a parting gift for you,” Yuki said as I climbed into the elevator. I turned just before the doors closed to receive a faceful of freezing cold water. 

I shrieked as the doors closed and the last thing I heard was my brothers howling laughter as I cursed him soundly. I pulled makeup remover out of my purse and quickly wiped off the dripping mascara and other things and stepped out of the elevator to see an entire army of photographers.

I was going to face an army of reporters with a bare face, dripping wet hair and clothing and no preparation. I was going to kill Yukine. 

“MISS KOBAYASHI!” Japanese echoed around me as security pushed me through the throng, cameras flashing in my eyes. 

“Are you an Avenger now?” 

“Is Katana Enterprises merging with Stark Industries?” 

“Do you work for S.H.I.E.L.D.?” 

“Do you have any comments about the New York Attack?” 

“Do you think a threat will come to Japan?” 

“Are you dating Thor?” 

I ignored them all, making my way to a sleek black car and driving off for the airport. “The jet is prepared for New York,” my head of security said. “You’ll be arriving in New York tomorrow morning at eleven A.M.” 

“Thank you Ryusaki,” I said in Japanese, taking off the rest of my makeup as we drove. “Alert hair and wardrobe that I’ll need a change of clothes taken from my luggage, my makeup and a hair dryer to be waiting on the plane for me.” 

“Yes ma’am,” Ryusaki replied. 

We arrived at the airport and the flight took off and I spent my time getting ready; taking a nap and using the luxurious bathroom aboard the flight to enjoy myself. I spent a majority of the time working with clients; answering emails, submitting orders, checking our stock and making phone calls. I drafted several contracts for a new project, drew up some blueprints to fix a malfunction in one of the weapons our team had designed and made a list of books for Loki to have waiting for me once I landed in New York. 

When I landed I had completed all my work and entered the tower with bags full of books that included classic literature, poetry books, the entire Shakesphere collection and a few popular fiction books along with a few of my favorites. 

I went up to the penthouse where I found everyone but Thor hanging around for lunch. “I’m back,” I said, dropping the book bags on the couch and coming over to snag the food that Tony’s cooks had made. 

I dropped the contract on the table for Tony, “there’s the contract for our clean energy collaboration, just in case anyone wants to look into it.” 

“Oh yeah,” Tony said, “I’ll definitely read that.” He put it down on a counter and glanced at the book bags, “who are those for?”

“Loki’s bored and a bored psychopath is never good,” I said, taking a bite of the delicious ciabatta pesto sandwich. 

Tony smirked, “so you’re just making the rounds with the Odinson’s?” 

I raised my eyebrows, “excuse me?” 

Natasha grinned as Clint slid a tabloid across the counter to me, “you made the front page.” 

“I assume it’s not my Vogue photoshoot from last month?” I deadpanned as I glanced at the picture of Thor and I as we came out of bifrost, I had been a little nervous and had been practically hugging his arm. And it hadn’t helped that they had a picture of him kissing my hand. 

RINA KOBAYASHI: DATING THOR, THE GOD OF THUNDER. HER SEXY VOGUE PHOTOSHOOT. HER SECRETS REVEALED. 

I rolled my eyes, “oh please, they really have nothing to talk about these days.” I picked it up, flipping to the page about me and Thor, ignoring my photoshoot page and the ‘her secrets revealed’ section, since it was probably about my becoming a superhero. “Rina Kobayashi is the Queen of Social Media, an International Sensation and is known to be the leading weapons manufacturer developer in the world, having taken the place of Stark Industries in 2008 when Tony Stark shut down Stark Industries’ weapons manufacturing branch. She takes the world by storm with everything she does and her identity as a superhero might have come as a surprise to the world but was not a surprise to the Japanese people who have known about her vigilante antics for a few years after Rina donned the mask during a severe Earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in 2007.” I knew it hadn’t really been an Earthquake but an attack by Mephisto, five years ago. “It has been many years since Rina notoriously dated Justin Hammer,” I scanned the page, “is there anything interesting in here?”

I frowned, reading the last paragraph. “Some might say that Rina Kobayashi is a goddess in her own right, although nothing as virtuous as the god of thunder. Although Rina is young, she is no stranger to war and bloodshed although she is very adamant on her claims that what people do with the weapons that she builds with her own hands is no concern of hers. She is strongly against a comment made in 2008 by Tony Stark, claiming that the industry is at fault for being a zero-accountability industry. If Rina would be a goddess, then she would be none other than a goddess of blood and death.” My mouth thinned as I finished reading. 

“We’re looking into who wrote it,” Steve cut in. 

I put up a hand, “there’s no reason to hunt someone down because they wrote a controversial article about me. Just because it’s offensive doesn’t mean I’m going to take offense.” I said, “stop looking for them. If we get the person fired for writing this, it will only prove their point.” 

I dropped the magazine on the couch by the bags and went back to eating, the others did as well. 

“You dated Justin Hammer?” Natasha asked. 

I cringed, “it lasted less than a month and it was one hundred percent fake.”

Tony laughed, “tell them why you broke up,” he said through a mouthful of food. 

I smirked, “Hammer claimed to be building Iron Man suits so I started to date him and stole the blueprints but they turned out to be soddy, half rate models.” I shivered, “it didn’t last because he was after some of the new hydro fueled bombs I had invented. I got what I wanted but he wasn’t sneaky enough to get what he wanted. I ended it when I realized it wasn’t worth it.” I said, finishing up my ciabatta. 

I cocked an eyebrow at Tony, “it’s not like you haven’t dated people for ulterior motives before.” 

“True,” Tony replied and then turned to the paperwork I had given him and picked up a pen from the counter, flipping to the last page and signing it without reading anything. “There, we’re officially friends.” He held out his hand for me to shake. 

“Business partners,” I said. 

“Friends.” Tony insisted. 

“Whatever Tony.” I rolled my eyes, pulling my hand from his and fighting my grin. I picked up the bags off the couch and made my way to the elevator. 

“You’re warming up to me,” he shouted after me, “by the end of the year we’ll be exchanging Christmas cards!” I kept my smile at bay before I was in the elevator before I couldn’t help but let the smile creep up my face. Tony Stark wasn’t as bad as everyone said he was.

I took the elevator to the basement and found Loki still in his cell, pacing around, bored. He glanced up when I walked in and his eyes landed on the amount of bags. “I expected you days ago.” 

I shrugged, “I do have a worldwide company to run. I’m not your maid.” 

Loki smiled, “I never said you where. I thought you said you were sticking around.” 

“I lied,” I smirked, “I flew back to Japan for a while.” 

“To check up on Mephisto?” Loki asked, raising his eyebrows. 

My body locked up at the name, him having caught me off guard. “No, not for him.” Loki noticed my reaction and didn’t push the subject. 

The cell Loki was locked in had an airlock that I could put things in and then close and then it would open a hole on his side so he could get to it. It was big enough for people and had a smaller section for food and clothing to go through. Since I had so many books, I placed them on the floor of the airlock that was made for humans before stepping out and closing the door before opening the one on Loki’s side. 

Loki picked up the books that I had organized in sections in each bag. “That bags poetry, that ones classic literature and that one’s fiction,” I said, pointing out which books where which. “If you like old time classic literature, I suggest you start with Shakesphere. If you want something more fast paced then…” 

Loki picked up the magazine from earlier, studying the photos of me on the front. “What’s this?” 

I blushed, “don’t read that, I don’t know how that ended up in there.” I debated going in after him but wasn’t stupid enough to lock myself in with him. 

Loki grinned at me, flipping through the pages until he arrived at the article about my photoshoot and my secrets being revealed. He smirked, holding up a picture of me on a beach, soaking wet, in a skimpy swimsuit, “this is what the world’s leading weapons manufacturer does in her spare time?” 

“So what,” I crossed my arms, refusing to be embarrassed. “I’m hot, I model sometimes. Besides, you should see the things Tony used to get up too and he doesn’t get nearly the same amount of ridicule that I do.” That was a constant thorn in my side, even my brother could get away with anything he wanted while I was stuck under the constant screen of the media. 

Loki grinned at me, continuing to flip through my photos, studying each one with an intensity I couldn’t quite place. His eyes fell on the article beneath, “her secrets revealed,” he read with glee, sitting down in a chair and propping up his feet. “This might be the most entertaining piece you brought me,” he chuckled and then frowned, “this is all about you being a superhero. I already knew all that.” 

He flipped to the next page where Thor had dropped me off and was kissing my hand, “Rina dating the god of Thunder,” he tisked, reading the article, his amusement fading. “Do you find my brother attractive?” 

“Yeah,” I said, being honest, “but I would never date him. Especially since I’m going to be working with him, I don’t date co-workers.” Why where we even talking about this? 

Loki smirked, “and what if you weren’t co-workers?” 

I cocked an eyebrow, “why so many questions?” 

“I’m trying to decide where you fit in all of this,” Loki said, waving a hand as if to encompass the world, “and trying to learn more about you,” his eyes glinted with mischief. 

I sighed, “I’m not attracted to Thor,” I said, “I’m into the dark and brooding types,” I joked, stepping closer to the glass, “to bad you’re locked in there.” 

Loki’s eyes lit up with amusement and he stood up, towering over me since I was short and his cell was also on a raised dais. “And what if I wasn't in here?” 

I smirked, “who knows.” I was having fun playing with him since I knew he wouldn’t be getting out anytime soon. 

Loki laughed, “I guess we’ll just have to find out.” Suddenly, he vanished. 

I blinked at the fact that he had disappeared, I hadn’t realized his magic worked inside his cell. Did he just escape? 

“Loki?” I asked, cautiously, carefully spinning around in a circle, my hands dropping to the two cylinders at my waist where my double bladed katana’s were hidden inside. 

I heard his laughter but couldn’t pinpoint it. At least he was still in the room. I did another slow spin, keeping an eye on the cage, wondering if he had simply turned invisible but hadn’t escaped. 

Something moved out of the corner of my eye and my swords popped out and I sliced at Loki. His figure dissolved and I realized it was a hologram. 

I backed up and slammed into a body. I tried to spin but Loki put his arms around me and lowered his lips to my ear. “I’m out, what are you going to do now?” I couldn’t stop the involuntary shiver that went down my spine as his hands touched my bare skin. 

His magic rushed through me, the feeling now familiar and it seemed to fill me up all over. I did the one thing I could think of, I disappeared and then reappeared a few feet away. 

I grinned at him before vanishing again, moving silently around the room as Loki grinned, his eyes alight with the challenge as his eyes scanned the room for me. Loki was the first magic user I had stolen powers from more than once, one of the only people I had ever stolen powers from more than once, and it was becoming easier and easier to use his power. 

“Where’d you go, darling?” Loki asked, a small smile on his face. 

I giggled before moving across the room, letting him think I was somewhere where I wasn’t but he didn’t fall for the trick, instead spinning around to face me, like he was hunting me with his magic. I felt his mind reach out for mine but I sloppily blocked it with his own magic. “Got you,” he said and vanished, only to reappear right in front of me and tackle me to the ground. 

My invisibility faded as I hit the ground, a grin spreading across my face as I stared up at him, his hair a curtain around us. “Looks like that’s two to one.” He hummed. 

“You cheated,” I said, “I don’t know how to use your magic.” I realized my voice was breathless as shivers shot through me from the places we touched. 

Memories flashed in my mind of things I don’t remember happening; touching his face and healing his wounds and wrapping up his bloody side from hours of torture. 

I felt like I knew him, although I didn’t know how. For some reason, it made my heart ache, like I was missing him. 

I pushed the thoughts down as I heard someone in the hallway and before I could blink, Loki was back in his cell and I was standing in front of it again. I swayed on my feet, stumbling as I tried to adjust to what just happened and a second later, Thor walked in. 

“Rina! Loki!” He said, happy to see us. “Nice to see you two again.” 

“Skip the formalities brother,” Loki said, impatient, “what news from Asgard?”

Thor’s face fell, “our father refuses to hear your case. He has exiled you from Asgard for your treachery. Mother and I have tried to convince him but he will not be swayed.” He held up a bundle of letters, “therese are from her.” Loki’s eyes tracked the letters and I saw a flash of sadness before it faded back to cold indifference. 

“So, I am truly stuck here,” Loki said. 

“I am afraid so,” Thor said, “but I will talk to Stark about release from your cell. I doubt he will keep your here forever.” 

“I think you underestimate his hatred for me,” Loki said. He crossed to his bed, picking up a poetry book and began to read, a dismissal for both of us. 

I left the room with Thor, making my way to the elevators. “Thor,” I said cautiously, Loki’s magic still swirling in my veins. “Loki still has access to his magic.” 

Thor eyed me cautiously, “did he hurt you?” His lack of surprise convinced me that he already knew. 

I shook my head, it had been the opposite of hurting. “If he’s had his magic this entire time but hasn’t tried to escape, then shouldn’t we believe his intentions are legitimate?”

Thor nodded, “I intended to use that to convince Stark to let Loki out but if you would like to help me, then the two of us will be able to convince Stark of his good intentions.” 

I nodded, wondering if I truly cared one way or another if I let Loki out but he had seemed to recognize when we had first met and these images I kept seeing… images of me and him… 

I needed answers and the best way to get them was to get on Loki’s good side and that meant releasing him. 

I just hoped my quest for answers didn’t get anyone killed.


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Rina

“Are you two out of your damn minds?” Steve asked and I raised my eyebrows.

“Steve,” I said, “you kiss your mother with that mouth?”

Steve narrowed his eyes at me, “Loki is a genocidal maniac who tried to take over Earth and you just want him to walk free?”

“My brother may have been trying to kill us but remember he was under the influence of the Mind Stone and had been tortured by a mad men for centuries.” Thor remind us all.

“The cell Loki is contained in has done nothing to suppress his magic,” I added, “Loki could’ve easily escaped or killed us all by now. I know his magic better than anyone,” I said, “trust me, he could bring this tower to the ground if he wanted too without breaking a sweat.”

“Besides,” Barton added, “I know first hand what it was like to be under the control of the mind stone. It’s not really something you can fight against. If Loki was under its control, he wouldn’t have been able to break out.”

“Look,” Banner spoke up, “I know you three think Loki is...good,” Banner seemed to wince at the words, “but he’s the god of lies. What’s to say he’s not just biding his time to get on our good side?”

“What would be the point of that?” I said, “why not just kill us or escape? There’s nothing we have that he wants; therefore, there is no reason for him to try and get on our good side.”

“He wanted protection,” Tony spoke up, “what kind of man could make a god run like that?”

“Kang the Conqueror,” I shivered just thinking about it, “if Kang comes for Loki then he’ll kill us all. We might need Loki on our side if he comes to fight us.”

“Or we can just give him Loki and end this all right now,” Tony suggested.

“If you hand my brother over to that madman,” Thor said, his voice booming with authority, “I will consider your life null and void Stark and I will not hesitate to kill you or anyone who helps you.”

Tony shook his head, “you’re being blindsided to his true nature. Especially you Rina, I expected more from you. How did the god of mischief get you wrapped around his fingers so quickly? I thought you were smart?”

“I am smart,” I defend myself, “and I’m convinced that even though Loki might be a madman, he’s a smart madman. And when it comes time for us to fight, you’re going to want him on our side, not against us. If we refuse to use this opportunity to befriend him, then we will ensure that he stands against us.”

Tony shook his head, “you’re both crazy.”

“How would you feel to be locked up for something you didn’t do?” Thor asked, “how would you feel if Banner was locked up for what the Hulk did when Banner had no control over his actions? We cannot control everything, not even ourselves sometimes.”

Banner wrung his hands, “he’s right,” he finally spoke up. “Looks like I’m switching my vote.”

“Who said anything about voting?” Tony said, “this is a dictatorship.”

“It’s a team,” Steve cut in.

“Wait, why are we mad at me now?” Tony said, “I thought you were on my side Rodgers?”

Rodgers shook his head, “I don’t want to let Loki out but you can’t deny the logical and strategic opportunities behind it.”

“Are you changing sides too?”

“No, I just want to stay open minded,” Steve said.

Tony sighed, “fine! I’ll think about it.” He finally said. “But until I decide, he needs to be watched and his cell needs to be modified and since you two are so convinced about his good intentions, you two get to watch him in his cell until I decide to either let him out or chain him up so he can’t use his magic.”

Thor and I nodded, realizing this was as good as it was going to get under the circumstances. Now, we just needed to get him out.

***

“Teach me how to use your magic,” I blurted out as I watched Loki levitate a book and turn the pages.

It was the third day of watching Loki in his cell and Thor and I had been switching out every eight hours. Loki hadn’t tried anything but occasionally he would vanish, only to reappear a few seconds later, just to prove that he could escape if he wanted too.

Tony hadn’t made up his mind and Thor and I kept pressing him but he was in his lab day and night, inventing something to keep Loki contained for good. The odds weren’t looking good for Loki.

Thor had gone back to Asgard and so I was on Loki duty for the entire day, I had strung up a hammock and brought in a pallet of blankets and pillows so I didn’t have to sit on hard chairs all day and had brought in an extension cord for my hologram coffee table so I could actually do some work for once.  
I had been working for eight hours straight; making phone calls, sending emails and creating blueprints and designing a new skyscraper for Katana Enterprises and I needed a break.

“No,” Loki said, without looking up from his book.

“Why?” I whined, crossing to stand in front of the gold infused glass, watching him read.

Loki sighed, his book falling to the bed as he sat up and faced me, “because if I showed you how to use my magic, you could use it against me. You would be able to keep me contained in this cell for real.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” I said.

Loki cocked an eyebrow, “really? Then you’re more of an idiot than I assumed.”

“Or you just don’t understand that some people don’t want to be your enemies,” I said, crossing my arms. “Teach me magic.”

“No,” Loki said again, “go back to work.”

“I’ve spent hours working, I want a break.”

“Shouldn’t the leader of a billion dollar company always be working?”

“That’s why I’m only the co-head,” I fired back, “teach me.”

“No,” I could tell I was wearing Loki’s infinite patience down.

“I think you’re scared,” I said, “that I’ll become more powerful than you.”

Loki’s lips upturned, “you can’t manipulate the god of mischief into teaching you.”

I tapped my foot, I had had an arm wrestling match with Steve this morning and his super strength was still flooding through my veins. I would have to touch Loki for him to teach me magic.

I crossed the floor and stepped into the airlock, locking myself into the cell with Loki. “What are you doing?” He asked me cautiously as I sat down at his desk.

I grinned at him, “annoying you into teaching me magic.” I reached for his hand but he pulled it away.

“Do not touch me,” he said.

My smile grew wider and I reached for him again but he rolled off the bed and to his feet, using the book to gently swat my hand away. “Come on,” I pouted, “I’m bored, teach me something.”

Loki closed his eyes and pinched his nose, exasperated and I lunged for him, only for my hands to go right through him as I slammed face first into the glass.

I groaned, Steve’s healing factor quickly working on my broken nose and I spun around the empty cell, looking for him.

He appeared at his desk, studying me. “If I teach you something, will you leave me alone?”

“Yes,” I said although I was lying. I was here all day, curtesy of my stupid plan to get him out. Hopefully, no one came down here and found me inside his cell, I doubted they’d be happy about it.

Loki sighed, “fine.” He took his feet from the desk and turned to face me. “How do you conjure my magic?”

“I have to touch you,” I said, “skin to skin.”

He nodded, not looking surprised, like I was simply confirming something he already knew. “Then come here,” he said and the way he said it sent shivers shooting down my spine as he held out his hand to me.

I gently brushed my fingers over his palm, I felt him shiver but knew it couldn’t possibly be my touch that had set him off.

I closed my eyes as his magic flooded through me, letting it fill in every crack and crevice of my soul. His magic was both cold and warm, like he wielded two forms of magic within him.

I focused on it, letting it shift through my veins and swirl in my mind. His magic was powerful, I could hear everything in the room, including the rapid beating of his heart and our breathing. I felt his magic automatically reach around the room, searching out minds and balked when I hit his mind but felt a wall of magic blocking me but I pushed past it, suddenly surrounded by everything Loki. His warmth, his smell, all of him seemed to surround me but I still couldn’t touch his thoughts or see into his head. I realized he had let me into this tiny portion of his mind.

“What do you feel?” Loki asked.

“You,” I replied. I felt his voice vibrating through my mind and in my ears. I opened my eyes, startled by how far away he was.

Loki nodded, closing his own eyes and I felt his magic brush against my mind and I snapped my head back, slamming it against the wall.

I cursed, rubbing the back of it. I hadn’t been able to feel his magic before, but maybe because we currently shared the same magic, I could feel him trying to invade my mind.

Loki laughed, “first lesson. Don’t practice magic where you can get easily hurt.” He waved a hand and all the furniture moved against the wall, leaving a space in the middle. He sat on the floor and motioned for me to sit across him.

I sat down, our knees almost touching. “Your powers grant you the ability of another person,” Loki said, “but if you want to truly know how to wield their powers, you have to know them. That’s why you are stronger when you wield someone’s abilities more than once.”

I blinked at him, “how do you know that?”

Loki froze for only a second before giving me an easy smile, “because I’ve met people with powers like yours before.” My mind flashed back to my dreams that seemed like memories of the past, when I had helped him and we had protected each other.

He held out his hand, “hold my hand.” I did and tried to ignore how well my hand fit in his. “Concentrate,” Loki said and I closed my eyes again, letting his magic flow between us.  
“Today I want you to focus on how the magic feels and how it reacts,” Loki explained, his voice hushed, “I simply want you to sit and feel it, don’t try and use it.”

I frowned, “but I want to-.”

“Shh,” Loki said, squeezing my hand, “just focus.”

I sighed through my nose but concentrated, letting his magic flow through the two of us. I don’t know how long I sat there, holding his hand, feeling his heart beat and feeling his magic pulse through me.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!” Tony’s voice echoed from outside the cage and I flinched, my eyes opening and blinking at the harsh lighting.

I released Loki’s hand, realizing he was holding my hand with one hand and reading a book with the other.

“How long…?” I started to ask.

“An hour,” Loki replied, stretching.

My own muscles were tense and I stood up to stretch, blinking at Tony on the other side of the glass. “Relex, it’s not like he’s stabbing me or something. I was testing out his magic.”  
In truth, I could feel his magic flowing through me, calling to me, singing to me to use it. I could feel the pressure building up underneath my skin like a cork about to explode but I tried to ignore it.

“Is that what the kids are calling it these days,” Tony deadpanned, “get out of the cell of our residential genocidal maniac or our deal is off.”

“Deal?” Loki asked, eyebrow cocked.

“None of your business,” Tony said.

“Thor and I are trying to convince Tony to let you go.” I explained quickly. Loki blinked at me, eyes furrowed as if he couldn’t comprehend the idea.

“Out,” Tony said, “now.”

“I’m coming,” I sighed and before I could blink, I realized I was standing on the outside of the cage next to Tony. The pressure inside of me released a little bit but not a lot. I blinked at Tony, trying to get my bearings. “Whoa,” I said, “I’ve never stayed in contact with someone for that long. It must make their powers inside of me stronger.” That pressure continued to pump along with my heartbeat.

Tony rolled his eyes, “come on. I’m taking a shift with the madman. Go get some sleep. It’s late and Thor will be back soon.”

“I can stay,” I protested.

“No, I don’t want you getting any more familiar with our mischief manager.” He said, “I don’t want him getting any ideas about breaking into your pretty little head.”

I rolled my eyes, “fine.” The pulsing inside of me was making me irritable and I stomped from the room. I climbed into the elevator, gritting my teeth. I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. There was no reason for me to be angry, I was just on edge from the amount of power running through me.

I tried to wrangle the magic into submission and something inside of my stomach unlocked and suddenly I was simultaneously in the minds of everyone in the tower, like I had been aboard the Helicarrier. I saw Steve making a sandwich, Bruce in the lab, Clint dreaming about dancing hotdogs and Natasha working out in the gym. I saw Tony staring at Loki and Loki reading a book.

I could even read the words on the page he was on. It was from Shakespeare, “I see you stand like greyhounds in the slip, Straining upon the start. The game's afoot…”

"Rina?" Loki’s voice echoed in my mind.

I gasped and my eyes flew open, the images faded and I realized the mirrors in the elevators had shattered and the glass lay around my feet.

The elevator dinged and I stepped out into my own private floor. I took a deep breath and when I turned back to the elevator, the glass was back to normal.

The elevator closed and I stood in the center of my room as the panic built up inside of me.

My furniture began to shake and the windows began to rattle as Loki’s magic, now my magic, began to surge inside of me. The rattling windows and rocking furniture only heightened my anxiety.

I needed the magic out!

I screamed and the furniture shoved backwards and the glass on the table shattered but the windows held. I stood in the center of the chaos, shaking and the magic in my stomach, that felt different than Loki’s magic, faded away, leaving me with just Loki’s magic.

What the hell was that? What was happening to me? I squeezed my eyes shut, sinking to the floor and feeling the glass cut into my skin.

Cold hands caressed my face and I opened my eyes to see Loki kneeling in front of me, his eyes worried. I pushed into his mind instinctively and showed him what had happened, too confused to explain it.

Loki brushed a tear from my eye, “I’m sorry,” he said, “I didn’t think about what would happen if I let you use so much of my magic.”

I blinked at him, confused. “Why?” I asked, my voice horse.

“When I don’t use my magic for a while or push it down, it can… drive me insane. My magic is chaos, it wants to be released, it has to be released or it will drive me insane.” He explained, “it can be very painful,” he sounded like he spoke from experience. “That is what eventually drove me into Kang’s grasp,” he said after a minute of silence, “the pain I could handle, but the suppression of my magic through magical chains was what eventually caused me to break. My own magic ripped apart my mind and allowed him entry.” Loki said bitterly, “it is a curse as much as it is a blessing.”

“Does it help when you channel the magic between us?” I asked because when we were touching, the pressure of the magic had lessened so much that I barely even noticed it. All I noticed was the flow between our bodies and minds.

Loki nodded, “it does.”

“Why?”

He hesitated long enough to convince me that he knew the answer but didn’t want to tell me. “I don’t know, maybe we just have a connection.” He smiled and things that weren’t my memories assaulted me; him smiling with blood dripping down his face as he spat in Kang’s face.

“Why do I know you?” I whispered, assaulted with the memories. I reached up and touched his cheek and he closed his eyes, leaning further into my touch. “Why do I see you in my dreams? Why does it feel like we’ve known each other for years?”

Loki swallowed, his green eyes meeting mine, “you’ll know in time.”

I frowned, the anger growing inside of me and the magic in my stomach roiled, feeling so different than Loki’s magic. “What’s happening to me?”

Loki brushed my hair back, “don’t worry about it. I’ll keep you safe. I made you a promise, remember?”

I shook my head, I had no memories of him before Germany but something in the back of my mind seemed to jump at his words, like the memories had been locked up.  
I realized I was crying, although I didn’t know why. A grief and sorrow that didn’t belong to me, flooded my mind, like someone else’s mind had temporarily invaded my own. My eyes began to droop and before I knew it, I was falling asleep.

My world titled upside down and then I felt my bed beneath me, “get some sleep,” Loki said and then his hand vanished from my own and I was left alone.

***

Loki

I hadn’t wanted to train her in magic, especially my own magic. Teaching her how to use my magic would make me vulnerable if she ever decided to turn on me because she would know my weaknesses and how to manipulate my own magic against me but she needed to know how to control magic to wield the Infinity Stones and I needed to train her without her knowing, so I had let her into my head and I had let her feel my magic.

And I had never regretted anything more.

While Rina had been assaulted with the feel of my magic, I had been assaulted with her memories and her thoughts. She was so different from the Rina that I had known; she was quieter, calculative, she thought through her problems and never acted recklessly. She felt guilt but chose to push through it. She was ambitious and was used to getting what she wanted.

She was sure of herself. The Rina that I had known had been reckless, spontaneous and cruel but there were times when she had been kind to me and had healed me.

I still remember the last time I saw my Rina, right before she died.

Kang had been torturing her for days, leaving me in a rare moment of lucidity because he wanted me to watch as he finally broke her. I had known he had been getting close to breaking into her head and turning her into his personal gauntlet for the stones but she had had one last trick up her sleeve.

“Leave her alone!” I shouted as he made her scream. I struggled to get out but I, myself, had been weakened through torture as well.

Rina continued to taunt him, claiming she would never work for him. Her insults dug deeper than normal and when her eyes met mine, I realized what she was doing.

She was trying to make him angry, trying to make him go bloodthirsty with rage. Rina was trying to make him angry enough to kill her.

And it was working.

"Goodbye," her voice echoed in my mind and I realized she would be leaving me alone to deal with Kang.

“No,” I choked out as Rina closed her eyes and channeled what little magic she had left. At the time, I hadn’t realized what she was doing but when Kang’s fists wrapped around her neck and I heard her spine snap, she was gone.

The beating I received after that was the closest I had come to giving up and not long after, I had finally been destroyed.

None of us had realized that Rina hadn’t really died until one of Kang’s minions came running in, dragging the body of a young girl, her face familiar and yet different. Her skin and hair were different colors but her eyes were the same. There was magic in her veins but not enough to hold onto an Infinity Stone and certainly not enough to survive Kang.

But Kang knew, he knew that Rina had made it next to impossible for Kang to wield her powers. She had spread them across the multiverse, ensuring that it took Kang a lifetime to find her again.

Kang knew about my connection with Rina and he used it to hunt her down to Earth and then sent me to retrieve the Tesseract and find the piece of Rina that was subconsciously protecting the Infinity Stone. This Rina was strong, she was powerful and she had already defeated horrors that no one should ever see.

The rest was history but when I broke from that mind control and saw her on the roof, I acted on instinct. I couldn’t let Kang get ahold of us again. I couldn’t let him touch her.  
I knew Kang would come back and kill me and then use Rina to take over the entire multiverse but I wouldn’t let him succeed.

Even if that meant manipulating this worlds Rina to become my own personal weapon. Even if that meant pushing her to her limits to train her to become powerful enough to stop Kang when he came again. Even if that meant destroying the woman inside and turning her into a weapon.

Rina had made me promise I wouldn’t let him win. Rina had died to keep Kang from getting to her.

And I would keep my promise, even if I had to kidnap every Rina in every dimension and either kill them or train them myself. I would not let Kang win.

My hands shook as I left Rina in her bed and walked into her destroyed living room. I waved my hand and the room morphed back to how it had been before she had exploded.

The Mind Stone was strong within her and I knew it would continue to grow in power unless she learned how to control it. I would need to train her.

I teleported back to my cell, taking the place of the hologram without Tony Stark even realizing I had left in the first place.

I needed to convince Stark to let me out, if I could do that, then I could train Rina. I planned my words out carefully before I decided how I was going to convince Stark.

“Rina is dying,” I spoke up, causing Tony to look up from his phone. That wasn’t true but if she didn’t learn to control her powers, she would kill others and it would kill her inside.

“What did you just say?” Tony said, moving to stand in front of my cage. I sat up from the bed, putting down the book I had been pretending to read.

“Rina,” I said again, my eyes boring into Tony’s. “She’s dying.”

“And why should I believe you?” Tony asked but I could feel the terror inside of him.

“She touched the scepter and gained its powers. The scepter contains one of the Infinity Stones. The leftover affects will kill her if she does not learn to control it. And if she somehow survives, the power will drive her insane and she’ll be unpredictable. She might even destroy your precious Avengers in the process.”

Tony frowned, pacing in front of my cell. “Why do you care?” He finally asked. “Why not just let her die?”

I had anticipated his questions and already had my answers ready. “Because Kang will come for me and she might be the only thing standing between me and oblivion. And, if she remains untrained in magic, she will most likely kill us all.”

“You’re selflessness is outstanding,” Tony sarcased. “Why should I let you train her? I’m sure I could find someone else.”

“I’ve been under the influence of the Mind Stone for years, I might be the only one who can train her,” I replied, “besides, I know Kang and I know which magic he will wield to get her on his side. I can train her to fight back and protect herself.”

“I’m assuming you won’t do this for free?”

I shook my head, “I want my freedom. I have spent two weeks in this cage with my full magical abilities and I have done nothing to hurt any of you. I have proven myself trustworthy to train her.”

Tony scratched his beard, “I can’t just let you roam free in New York, S.H.I.E.L.D. won’t go for it. But, I think we can arrange something.”

I nodded, “I look forward to working with you.”

Tony sighed, “I’m going to regret this,” he muttered. “I’m going to leave you alone while I call a meeting with the other Avengers. If you’re gone when I come back, I’ll hunt you down and kill you. Consider it your first test.”

I smiled at him. “Noted.”

Tony stared at me for a few more seconds before leaving the room and I stared around the walls of the cell that I hoped I would no longer be contained in for long.


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Rina

I woke up to Natasha throwing a pillow at me. “Come on, emergency meeting.” She helped me to my feet and her strength flooded my veins, taking with it, Loki’s magic. The pressure in my head faded as Natasha’s strength, endurance and agility replaced it.

I sighed in relief, feeling my body relax as I followed her into the conference room where everyone else was gathered.

Tony was sitting at the head of the table, his eyes on me and they looked sad. I couldn’t imagine what had happened.

“I’ve come to a decision about Loki,” he finally said. “We’re going to let him out.” Before anyone could speak, he put up a hand. “Conditionally.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Steve said, “what did Loki say to you to convince you?”

Tony sighed, “I struck a deal with him,” his eyes landed on me and I wondered what kind of deal Stark would have made with the god of mischief and why he kept looking at me like I was about to drop dead. “His conditional freedom for his help training us against Kang’s coming attack.”

“I am most pleased with this,” Thor said, “I will be happy to tell him of the new development.” Thor got up to leave but Tony’s voice stopped him.

“Wait, Thor,” Tony called out. “He needs to be watched, he can’t leave the tower or the tower grounds and because you two,” he pointed to Thor and me, “are so adamant on letting him go, you get to babysit him.”

“Deal,” Thor said and I nodded my agreement.

“And if this comes back to bite me in the ass, it’s on your hands.” His eyes bored into mine, “this is not a zero-accountability industry, you got that Kobayashi? There is no washing your hands of the blood spilt if this backfires.”

I swallowed, “I understand.”

And with that, Thor and I were off to tell Loki of his conditional freedom.

***

“Come on,” Natasha said, coaching me as I struck at her again and again. “Harder.”

I continued my reps, pounding the pads she held up as I trained with her. I had trained in self defense and taken gymnastics while living in Japan but I needed to keep up my training and with the extra edge of having Natasha’s knowledge and agility flowing through me, I was almost flawless.

When I touched Natasha I suddenly gained all of her combat ability but she didn’t want me to rely on it, so we trained completely covered so our skin didn’t touch.

After an hour, we stopped and I grabbed us both water before we left the training area and met up with the team for breakfast.

After breakfast, I showered and met Loki back in the training room in my new superhero suit that Tony had designed for me. It had two different modes, full body or half body, depending on how much advantage I wanted in a fight. The full body suit was a jumpsuit that covered me from ankle to wrist to neck and had a pair of thin gloves and tall boots with a mask to pull over my eyes and a hood to hide my face, this was the suit I would wear when I wanted no one to touch my skin so whoever’s powers I was using would be available to me at all times and I wouldn't accidentally touch someone else.

The half body suit was a two piece suit, the top was cropped above my stomach with short sleeves and knee and elbow pads. The pants were short with the same boots and the hood and the mask were the same but my legs, arms, hands, neck and stomach were exposed so I could use the powers of everyone around me during a fight.

I had gone through extensive training wearing both suits and preferred the half body suit so I could channel the entire teams powers in a fight with a simple touch.

“Okay,” today I was fighting against Loki and Thor in my half body suit. I had yet to use Thor’s powers since he split his time between Asgard, London and New York but I was excited to see just how much of his powers I could access.

Loki held out his hand and I touched it quickly, his magic rushing into me. I rolled my shoulders and pulled out my double bladed swords. “Let’s go.”

Loki’s dagger went sailing by my head but I dodged it, using his magic to anticipate his movements and lunged for them, letting his magic surround me and amplify my strength.  
Clones of myself peeled off, racing across the room and attacking the two brothers while I turned invisible and lunged for Thor.

I wrapped my arm around his bicep as I flipped him over my shoulder and felt my entire body lock up as the powers of Thor slammed into me. Electricity shot through my body as lightning crackled across my skin and my eyes glowed with blue fire. His most recent memories slammed into me and I caught a glimpse of Jane Foster.

Loki’s holograms vanished as his magic was replaced and they both stared at me before Thor moved in to attack me, the lightning not bothering him at all.

We fought hand to hand, our strength easily matching the other and it was all going well until Thor threw his hammer at my chest, intent on knocking me back.

I reacted instantly, reaching up and catching the hammer. I grabbed the hilt and turned to face Thor, pointing his hammer at him before I froze, realizing exactly what I was lifting.

“HOLY HELL!” I shouted, staring at the hammer.

“How are you…?” Thor said.

“I think it’s just your magic?” I said, tossing the hammer from hand to hand. “Does this mean I can rule Asgard?”

“Let’s find out,” Loki put his hand on my bare arm and Thor’s magic faded from me and was replaced with Loki’s magic.

The hammer dropped like a rock and I fell over as the hammer pulled me to the ground. I slammed my head into it, groaning as I sat back up, letting go of the hammer. “I guess she’s not worthy.” Loki laughed at the red mark on my forehead.

“It’s still interesting,” Thor said, “to think that the hammer mistook you for me.”

I shrugged, “who knows.”

Loki was studying me silently and I wanted to know what he was thinking and suddenly, I was sitting at the edge of his mind, staring at the shields he had around his mind, keeping anyone from entering.

It was like a wall of emerald, three feet thick and soaring into the darkness above me, I could physically see his shield in front of me.  
I reached out and put a hand to the emerald wall in front of me and the wall balked, Loki’s magic sparked inside of me and without thinking, I slipped past those walls and into his head. As if his magic had thought I was him.

I saw through his eyes as he watched my face contort in shock but I couldn’t feel my own body, I didn’t even know if I was breathing because all I could feel was him. I turned away from his eyes and was bombarded with memories.

He was remembering me but it wasn’t me, the Rina I saw in his mind was covered in blood and she was laughing. Her eyes were shattered and she looked to be crazy, like the pain had finally driven her insane. Her eyes landed on mine, on Loki’s, and terror shot through me as I realized this was me. I knew Loki. I knew this woman.

The memory changed as I watched Kang choke the life out of Rina, out of me. And I felt; more than saw, the explosion of power as she died.

A wall of emerald magic slammed into me and I was thrown from Loki’s mind and back into my own body. My body crumbled to the ground as I became very aware of my heart beating and my breathing and my blood pumping.

I grabbed my head in my hand as a splitting headache shot through me. “What the hell was that?” I gasped, staring up at Loki as my stomach whirled with the power deep inside of me.

Loki didn’t respond, his eyes wide, “How did you get past my shields?” He hissed.

“Who was that? Was that me?” I asked, the insistent pounding in my head drowning out everything else.

Loki grabbed me, yanking my hands away from my head and forcing me to look at him, clutching my head in his hands. “How did you get through my shields? What did you see?”

“Loki,” Thor said, pulling his brother back.

I realized I was shaking, “how do you have those memories? Was that girl me? Why was Kang torturing me?”

Thor knitted his eyebrows, confused. “What are you talking about?” He pulled Loki from my grasp.

I pointed a shaking hand at Loki who was still sitting on the ground, staring at me. “Kang was torturing Loki for centuries,” I said, “you said there was another prisoner…” I trailed off, swallowing as I realized what was going on. “Was that me? Was the other prisoner me? Why can’t I remember?”

Loki stood up and walked over to me, holding out his hand to pick me up off the ground. “Brother,” he said, “leave us.” I took his hand and he pulled me to my feet, touching the red mark that Thor’s hammer had left on my skin, brushing my hair back.

Thor frowned, “I don’t think that would be -.”

“Please,” Loki said and Thor blinked, like he had never heard his brother use that word before. Thor left the room and I was left alone with Loki.

I realized I was still holding his hand and yanked it from his grasp, “why-,” I started to ask but Loki put up a hand.

***

Loki

I stared down at her as she yanked her hand from my grasp and I couldn’t stop myself from being mesmerized by her eyes. They looked just like my Rina’s.

“Let me explain,” I said, my voice a scary calm. “I was taken by Kang when I fell from my home planet of Asgard. Kang is a being able to travel through many of the dimensions but his powers are limited, he cannot stay in other dimensions for long and he cannot spread himself too thin. His ambition is limited.” I paused, my eyes moving rapidly over her face trying to decide how much she could handle and how exactly I was going to spin this story. “But, there were rumors of a weapon, a weapon that could wield the powers of the Six Infinity stones even if the stones weren’t present, the weapon just had to touch the stones once and after that, they could wield it’s powers forever.” I swallowed, “what Kang didn’t know was that this weapon was unlike any gauntlet or sword because it was alive. It was a person. Someone who could take and use the powers of anything it came into contact with.”  
I could hear the rushing pounding of her heart as she stayed silent, staring at me with her beautiful brown eyes.

“When I was taken to Kang, he already had the weapon and he had been torturing the girl for centuries. She was unyielding, cruel, and vicious and had no intention of helping Kang rule the multiverse. He tried to break her but he never could.” I took a deep breath, “the memory you saw in my head was the last time I saw her alive.” The memories flashed behind my eyes once again as I remembered the Rina who had died for the universe and I truly understood for the first time what it was like to be selfless.

“But that doesn’t make any sense!” Rina said, “that was me in your head.”

I nodded, “her name was Rina and she was you but she was also not you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The Rina I knew was from another world, another dimension,” I carefully explained. “And she baited Kang into anger, making him so blind with rage that he killed her. He killed his own weapon. What Kang didn’t realize until years later was that Rina had given up her power moments before death and it had scattered into the multiverse and had latched onto any version of Rina that it could get its hands on.”

She caught my breath, realizing what I was saying.

I continued, “you are the one who ended up with most of her powers. I knew that was true the moment you touched the scepter and felt the Mind Stone’s powers. And I know you are the weapon he is searching for because that power still resides in you,” I put my hand onto her bare stomach, “right here.”

I could feel her trembling as I held her, trying not to trace her skin with my fingers. I pulled my hand back, “you can feel that power, you can feel it surge up inside of you unexpectedly. Rina...,” I paused before I spoke, knowing that I was about to lie to her and knowing that she might never forgive me for it.

“Rina,” I said again, “that power is going to kill you unless you learn to control it.” I said, which was far from the truth. At most, it would hurt people around her but that power would never harm her. “It will kill your family and your friends if you don’t learn how to wield it.” I needed her to be terrified of it, I needed her to want to learn to control it. I needed her to become as vicious as the Rina that I had known.

Rina was silent, her mind moving at a hundred miles per hour and I reached out with my magic, feeling her mind, determining if she believed me or not.

Rina didn’t say anything for a long time, she simply stared over my shoulder, at nothing. I put my hand on her arm, “Are you okay?” I finally asked her.

She let out a little laugh, “how can I be okay?” She said before clearing her throat. “What am I-,” she stopped, “how-.” She ran her fingers through her hair and I realized she was shaking violently.

I reached out for her but she gently moved my hand away from her. I had never seen Rina this broken but I had to remind myself that this wasn’t my Rina, this was a different Rina and she didn’t know me and she didn’t trust me.

“I’ve been having these memories lately,” Rina said, “about Kang and you but I thought I was going crazy. I don’t know which is worse; going crazy or having the memories of someone who doesn’t exist.” She studied me, “why are you helping me? Why not just let me die?”

She was asking all the right questions. “I made a promise to Rina before she died,” I said, which was only partially true. “I promised that I would keep Kang from getting ahold of you again. I don’t break my promises.” Also a lie but she didn’t know me well enough to know that yet.

“I’m not her Loki,” she said. I knew that, more than she could possibly imagine. “And I’m never going to be.”

“I know,” I said, wondering why my heart hurt at her words. “I don’t want you to be.” I wondered if that was a lie. “I want to train you, I want to keep you out of Kang’s hands.”

“Just because of a promise you made to a dead girl?” Rina asked, her eyes narrowing.

She was seeing through me which shouldn’t have come as a surprise because my Rina always knew when I was lying but it was still a shock. “Yes,” I promised.

Rina nodded, letting out a sigh and I wondered if she had bought my lie. I was using her purely for selfish reasons, so I could control the multiverse while also keeping it from Kang’s hands but she could never know that. If she knew, she would never work for me. “Then let’s begin,” Rina said, “teach me.”

I blinked at her, “really?”

“If Kang comes back, I need to be prepared,” Rina said, rolling her shoulders and flexing her fingers. “When he comes back he won’t show any mercy, I can gather that much from the memories of the girl you knew. If he isn’t going to show any mercy, then I can’t either. If I’m going to be the only thing standing between this world and annihilation by his hands, then I want to be prepared.” Her voice was strong but her eyes looked exhausted, like she was tired of doing this. I wondered just how much Mephisto had broken her when he had captured her.

I nodded, “alright. This isn’t going to be easy.” I warned her. And so, we began.


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Loki

Rina was ruthless in her training, pushing herself until she was collapsing in exhaustion, sometimes working so hard she exhausted even me. We spent two weeks like this, training her until her body reached its physical limit when Stark cornered me after dinner one night.

“You have to stop,” he said, “I released you to train her but you’re killing her.”

I scoffed, “I’m doing nothing of the sort.”

Stark motioned to where Rina was sitting on the couch where the others were laughing and talking; she sat motionless, exhausted, wrapping her wrists from the sprain she had received earlier when she had thrown herself backwards trying to channel the Mind Stone.

“Look at her,” Stark said and I sighed, turning to study Rina like I hadn’t done these past few weeks.

I had forced myself to remain cold and distant because I didn’t want to get too attached. I was training Rina to be my weapon, not to be a friend. I couldn’t become friends with her or else I might fail at using her powers to my advantage. If I was worried about her, I wouldn’t be able to rule worlds.

But at Stark’s words, I took a moment to study her. I saw her exhausted eyes, her smileless face, her bruised body and cracked lips. I frowned, trying to push down the worry rising inside of me but it looked like she had had the joy in her life sucked from her. She looked like my Rina just before she died.

I caught my breath, swallowing, realizing my weapon would be useless if she was broken. I realized I would need to walk a fine line between friendship and manipulation if I wanted Rina to live to become my weapon.

“I see what you mean Stark,” I finally said.

Stark nodded, “good. Because if you make her look like that again, I will kill you.” I didn’t bother laughing at his statement because he sounded serious.

I nodded, “don’t worry.”

I crossed to the couch, the others watching me carefully until I sat down next to Rina. She shifted in surprise, blinking at me. “Aren’t we training tonight?” She asked me quietly, her voice drowned out by the people laughing around us.

I shook my head, relaxing on the couch, “not tonight.”

Rina slumped back against the pillows and my heart twanged with sympathy and I let myself feel it before I pushed it away. She needed rest, she needed a break.

I tuned out the conversation, sitting there out of obligation until Rina’s head landed on my shoulder and I realized she was asleep.

I stiffened, wondering if the others were aware of the position we were in but they were enthralled in their own little family, smiles on their faces. The only one who noticed was Stark and he simply narrowed his eyes at me.

I cleared my throat, shifting my weight but she didn’t wake up. Finally, I sighed and channeled my magic and a second later, I was standing in her bedroom, holding her in my arms.

I dropped her onto her bed, stopping as I watched her frown in her sleep. She was having a nightmare of some kind.

I sighed, knowing she’d probably never forgive me for looking into her head but I placed a finger on each of her temples and closed my eyes, concentrating.

A second later, I was in her head and seeing the terror that she was experiencing. The entire dream was in Japanese but I was able to understand what she was saying because of All-speak, so I barely noticed the switch.

“Mom! Dad!” Rina shouted, her footsteps echoing in a metal basement as she ran through a laboratory, searching the dark corridors for her family. “MOM! DAD!” I heard screaming up ahead, like a million voices were screaming over each other and the end of the hallway pulsed with red light, as if a giant bonfire had been erected in the middle of the basement.

“RINA!” Her mother’s responded from farther into that red light and Rina raced towards it, her feet unable to stop although I could feel her trying to slow down.  
She sped around the corner, the sounds of the screaming became overwhelming and the red light shone as she skidded to a stop at the edge of a pit.

It was like an explosion had gone off in the center of the lab and had melted a hole in the metal floor but instead of bedrock beneath the floor, there was an opening into another horrific world.

The world was covered in fire and lava with cracked earth and dead plants and the smell of burning flesh permeated my nostrils. I could still hear the screams and when I looked closer I realized that people were burning to death in the rivers of lava.

Rina stood frozen on the edge, looking down into it. Three screams seemed to scream louder than the others and I saw Rina’s mother, father and brother, all of them burning alive and screaming for her to save them.

“You can save them,” a deep sensual male voice echoed around us, “you can end their suffering. All you have to do is come to me. Come to me.”

Rina stepped closer to the edge of the hole and I could do nothing but watch as a figure made of smoke rose in front of her and engulfed her.

Darkness surrounded us and I found myself staring down at Rina as she was chained to a wall. A man in a red cloak with a high collar was smiling down at her as he chained her up, Rina was fighting against him but was getting nowhere.

He petted the side of her face, “you will be my queen.” She bit him and he screamed as she spat black blood from his mouth.

The man I now realized was Mephisto, slapped her across the face. “You’ll suffer for that.”

He grabbed her across the face and she screamed in pain as his hand burned red hot.

Rina sat up in bed, gasping for air as she brushed the tears from her face. She hugged herself and looked around the room but didn’t see me because I was already gone.

I materialized back in my own room, unsettled by the images I had seen. How much had Rina suffered at Mephisto’s hand?

“You will be my queen,” his voice echoed in my mind and I shivered in disgust. Why had Mephisto chosen her? How did he open a portal to another world? What had happened to Rina?  
It had to have something to do with her powers, maybe Kang wasn’t the only one looking for the weapon. Maybe others were hunting it down as well. An urge to protect her welled up inside of me and this time, I didn’t push it away. She was my weapon, I needed to protect her anyways. The only reason I wanted to protect her was because she was useful to me, nothing else.

I materialized back in my own room to find Thor waiting for me. “I noticed your closeness to Rina this evening,” he started, swinging his hammer around menacingly.

“Did you now? I thought you were too busy entertaining the worthless oafs you call your friends.”

“Don’t insult my friends Loki,” Thor said, “I want to know your intentions with Lady Rina.”

I chuckled, “my intentions? You speak as if we’re still living in the eighteenth century. In this world, you don’t need to announce your intentions.”

“I understand the culture brother,” Thor said, “but I also understand that you are the god of mischief and no intention of yours has ever been honorable.”

I smiled at him but there was no warmth behind it, “what exactly do you think I plan to do with Rina?” I asked with quiet calm.

“I do not yet know,” Thor said, “but I intend to find out. And I intend to give you a warning,” he said, tossing his hammer.

“Oh?” I raised my eyebrows, unconcerned.

“If you touch Lady Rina or harm her in anyway, I - and the other Avengers - will not hesitate to kill you. There will be no mercy and there will be no prison. You will be killed.”  
I couldn’t help but give Thor a tiny smile, I couldn’t believe he thought he could actually stop me. And it was good to know that he suspected nothing. About my plans for Rina or about Rina being a weapon. It appeared she hadn’t told anyone. “Do you think I’m joking Loki?” Thor said, noticing my tiny smile and the amusement in my eyes.

I put a hand to my heart, “of course not.” I swept into a mock bow, “your wish is my command, oh mighty prince.”

“Do not mock me,” Thor said, “you will not touch the Lady Rina. Swear to me.”

“I will do nothing of the sort.”

Thor glared at me, gripping his hammer tightly and I wondered if he was going to throw it at me. “I will ask again, what are your intentions with Rina?”

“I have no intentions,” I replied, “but it seems you do. Why are you so interested in her? Is Jane not meeting your standards? Would you like someone who can spark?” I hissed at him, my stomach dropping at my own words.

“Be careful how you speak,” Thor said, “I have no intentions with the Lady Rina and my actions to Jane are honorable.” Thor stomped to his room, “I’m watching you Loki, don’t forget it.” He slammed his door a second later and I was left alone in the shared living room.

I sighed before teleporting to my room and laying back on my bed and fell into a fitful sleep filled with images of the Rina who had died to protect the universe and visions of Kang torturing me and ripping Rina apart all over again.


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Rina

It had been three weeks since my nightmares revolving around Mephisto had started and three weeks of sleepless nights.

I had flown back to Japan and visited the abandoned lab where Mephisto had originally risen. The building had crumbled but the debris had been cleared and the giant melted hole in the floor was inactive, silent. Dark.

I clenched my fists as I stared at it, recalling the very day that it had opened.

***

“Come on!” I shouted, pounding the machine on the table, trying to get it to work. “Work!”

My dad laughed, shaking his head at me. “Calm down Ri-chan,” he said, using the Japanese nickname my parents have given me. “It’s not going to work overnight.”

I chewed my nails, frustrated. “I need to prove my theory before the next ICDMT. If I can create a synthetic way to make Vibranium then we can ensure the future of our company.”

“It’s too unpredictable.” My dad said, “besides, you don’t need to keep working so hard.”

I swallowed, “but Stark just rolled out the Jericho and Hammer Industries isn’t far behind. We’ve been telling them we’re planning something big but we have nothing to show for it. If we don’t do this, we’ll lose customers and we’ll go under.”

My dad sighed, stopping his own work and coming to sit across from me, putting his hands on my shoulders so I would look at him. “You shouldn’t be so worried about these things. Your mother and I are running the company just fine, we’re not trying to race against the other companies because we know that quality outweighs quantity. Those racers are going to crash sooner or later and then we’ll be ahead.”

I frowned, “but if we don’t keep our customers, we’ll lose everything.”

My dad shook his head, pushing his glasses up with a finger, “you really need to stop eavesdropping on your mother’s worried conversations with grandmother. We’re the only company that is based in the USA and also in 117 countries, we’re going to be fine.”

I sighed, “alright.” My mother came down the stairs into the lab and called out to my father, I quickly tuned out their rapid fire Japanese conversation and turned back to my project, a blue glow distracted me from their words.

I had placed an alchemic mixture of several organic and mineral elements inside a chamber made out of Palladium and had been bombarding it with microwaves to temper it for an hour but hadn’t had any results.

Until now.

I had created Vibranium. Synthetic Vibranium.

“MOM!” I shouted, “DAD! I DID IT!”

My shout echoed across the room and the vibranium in the chamber seemed to suck in the sound waves and then project them back at me as it began to humm.

My parents came running over, staring down at it. My father frowned, “is it humming?” The humming increased at his words.

I crouched on the other side of the chamber, listening to the hum. The glass began to rattle around the chamber, the vibranium humming even louder. “SHUT IT DOWN!” My father shouted.

I switched off the microwave bombardment that had been pummeling it but by then it was too late, the chamber shattered around the synthetic vibranium and the humming sound became deafening as it rattled my very bones.

I covered my ears, screaming as all the glass in the lab exploded and dangerous chemicals began to mix. Two chemicals exploded and toxic gas floated into the air. I grabbed my mother's arm and the three of us began to crawl towards the exit.

The blue light and the humming became deafening and suddenly stopped. I barely had time to take in a breath before a sonic blast shot outwards as the synthetic vibranium was destroyed to pieces and the entire lab collapsed around us.

***

I yanked myself from my memories, staring at the silent building. He wasn’t here and he wasn’t coming back, I tried to reassure myself but my dreams had seemed so real.

“Rina?” I turned to see my brother standing across the street, he eyed the building, “what are you doing here?”

I forced a smile on my face, “nothing. I was just passing through on my way home.” We had rebuilt our lab across the town, far away from the destroyed one. Even though it was a prime piece of real estate, we hadn’t ever sold it and no one had ever made an offer on it. Everyone seemed to know that the ground it was built on was cursed.

Yuki studied me carefully, not convinced with my fake smile and obvious lie. “Calm down Yukine,” I said, using his nickname, “we have bigger things to worry about. The ICDMT is in three days.”

Yuki sighed, running his fingers through his hair, “don’t remind me,” he said. “Most of the work is already done. We just have to finalize our spots and prepare the weapons for the expo.”

We spent the next three days hard at work finalizing everything for the ICDMT and only relaxed when we were on the plane on our way. This year, the ICDMT was being hosted in Las Vegas, Nevada and we landed early, greeted by fans and paparazzi at the doors. People know both me and my brother as models, social media influencers and a few knew us as weapons manufacturers.

Questions bombarded us as we crossed to our limousine that would take us to the Nobu Hotel where the expo was being held.

“What are you presenting at the World Summit?”

“What is your relationship with Thor?”

“Why is Katana Enterprises working with Stark Industries?”

“YUKINE!” A bunch of the girls screamed and Yuki smirked, giving them a signature smile and a few air kisses before we climbed into the limo.

“You’re a dumbass,” I said after the doors had closed.

“You’re just jealous because I’m prettier,” Yuki replied.

I rolled my eyes as we drove through Las Vegas.

We arrived at the Nobu hotel and found it swarming with people, the entire hotel had been rented out for the massive amounts of people who had come to see and were also presenting at the International Conference on Defense Manufacturing and Technology, hosted by the World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology.  
Everyone who was anyone in the science community was here; Aldrich Killian, Justin Hammer, Thomas Richards, Ward Meacham, Tony Stark, the Avengers, Dr. Stephen Strange, Jane Foster, Dr. Bruce Banner, and even Nick Fury although he was keeping a low profile.

After we had gotten checked into our connection suite, Yuki and I prepared for the welcome gala that would be held that evening for the esteemed guests. Of course, me and my brother were both going.

I hadn’t yet seen Tony or knew if any of the Avengers had indeed come to the Summit but I knew that if they were here, I would see them at the gala tonight.

I dressed quickly, choosing a dress that highlighted my Japanese heritage before Yuki and I made our way to the dinner and gala.

Yuki and I were at a table with Aldrich Killian, Charles Healey, Jane Foster, Bruce Banner and Dr. Stephen Strange. Jane and I sat next to each other, complimenting each other on our outfits.

“So,” Killian began, “I heard you and Thor are dating.”

“Really?” I said, pretending to be shocked. “We’ve been keeping it a secret so well, that we forgot to tell each other.”

Jane laughed, “I knew he was hiding something from me.” She grinned at me good naturally, “who knew there was another woman.”

“Not me,” I said, taking a sip of my wine. I hadn’t seen Jane in a while and I missed being around her. “I was so surprised when they discovered our affair. Especially because we were keeping it so private.” Jane laughed since the photo had been taken in the middle of a busy street.

“But, since there are so many more important things to talk about,” I said, turning to Jane. “Tell me about your new discoveries.”

Jane launched into a discussion about Einstein-Rosen bridges and several new readings, papers and evidence she was presenting at the conference. I listened intently and when she was done, she asked what I was presenting.

I gave her a detailed description of the weapons we were presenting and then leaned closer, making sure the men weren’t listening. “And we have a surprise,” I whispered, “Katana Enterprises and Stark industries are working together.”

“I heard about that, I just didn’t think it was true,” Jane said.

“We’re making it official at our presentation,” I said. “It’s time to user in a new era of peace.”

We returned to the conversation with the men, listening to them all explain what they were presenting at the conference.

"I've a proposal I'm putting together myself. It's a privately funded think tank called Advanced Idea Mechanics. Or A.I.M. for short." Aldrich Killian explained, “we’re working on something called Extremis, a form of gene therapy designed to regenerate damaged tissue and regrow severed limbs.”

“That’s incredible,” Jane said.

“It’s still in the testing phase so we won’t be able to role it out yet but we thought to give people a taste of what’s to come,” Killian said. “What about the rest of you?”

“Dr. Banner and I have been working on a presentation for the conference,” Dr. Strange said, “we’re very pleased with the results.”

Killian frowned at Dr. Strange, “I thought you were still on medical leave in Nepal. Didn’t you break your hands?”

I glanced down at the gloves that covered Dr. Strange’s hands, feeling sorry for him. “I did but that isn’t going to stop me from saving lives.”

“Doctors,” Killian said to Charles Healey, “so pretentious.” The three doctors ate the table stared at him.

Healey cleared his throat, “we’ve been working with Dr. Banner and Dr. Strange on an exoskeleton that can be used to help paralyzed people move.”

Killian laughed, “an exoskeleton? That’s ridiculous! Accutech used to make some of the best weapons around and now you’re scraping up what Stark gives you from his boots. It’s a waste, I tell you! If you want to make some real weapons again, come join A.I.M.”

I frowned at Killian, “I think it’s a wonderful idea,” I smiled at the three men and Banner nodded his thanks.

After dinner we were taken into the grand ballroom attached to the hotel, I couldn’t help but marvel at the beauty of it all.

Yuki and I spent most of the night dancing and laughing with our mutual friends and high paying customers. Many of which who asked questions about the Avengers and if I was one of them. I wasn’t sure how to answer them so I carefully steered their questions more along the line of other things.

I was doing well until I was dancing with Griffin Sinclair, a journalist, who was determined to ask me pointed questions.

I was able to avoid them until he asked me one that dredged up terrible memories, “various sources at S.H.I.E.L.D. confirmed that you were, in fact, the superhero who saved Tokyo from a terrible earthquake. Was that earthquake another alien attack?”

My body locked up as images of Mephisto slammed into me. My dreams rushed back to me and I didn’t know how to respond.

“Are you okay?” Griffin asked.

“May I cut in?” A voice I knew well cut through my memories and I turned to see Loki dressed in a well tailored suit.

Griffin turned pale and backed off, “s-sure.” He raced away through the other dancing couples and I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.  
I turned to Loki, “you’re a lifesaver.”

Loki smirked, “I know,” he held out his hand, “dance with me?”

I took his hand and he spun me into his arms. We twirled around the dance floor in silence, “I didn’t know you were coming to the expo,” I said as we danced.

“I wasn’t planning on it but Thor wanted to see Jane and the others didn’t want to leave me at home,” Loki rolled his eyes, “so, I was an unwilling guest.”

“Who else is here?” I asked, glancing around the room.

“Besides me, Thor, Stark and Banner? Romanoff and Fury are here but Barton and Rodgers are back in New York.” He explained.

I nodded as we continued to dance. I tried to ignore how he made my heart flutter as we danced. By the end of the dance, I was blushing and flustered.

“I have to go,” I said as I stepped back from him, “Thanks for the dance.” I turned before he could stop me and vanished into the crowd.

I couldn’t get distracted, I needed to learn magic so I could defeat Kang. Nothing else. Besides, I wasn’t sure Loki was telling me the full truth. I felt like I was missing something obvious and until I found it out, I had no intention of furthering my relationship with Loki.

“You look constipated,” Tony Stark said, appearing with a glass of champagne. “I was going to give this to Pepper but you look like you need it more.”

I chuckled, taking it from him and drinking it quickly, downing the fizzing liquid. “Thanks,” I croaked. “How are you enjoying the party?”

Tony sighed, “well, now that me and Pepper are an item of sorts, the element of fun has really left these parties.” Tony started at all the women gathered around Justin Hammer. “Now I have to watch the second rate men get all the good girls.”

“I would classify him as third-rate, at best,” I sneered. “On a scale of 1-10, he’s a negative 3.”

Tony laughed, “oh yeah? And what’s Loki on the scale? An eleven?”

My smile faded, “he doesn’t get to be on the scale.” I said, anger rising in me which was just a reaction to Loki’s magic in my system.

Tony winced, “sorry, I was trying to joke but I guess I’m not always funny.”

I blinked at him, “wow, that might have been the humblest thing to ever leave your mouth. Was that really an apology?”

“Don’t get cocky Kobayashi, you’re still a little dynamite asshole,” he said.

I laughed, looking out over the party. “Did you talk to Aldrich Killian?”

Tony snorted, “that kid? I met him years ago at a New Years Eve party, he’s been flirting with my girl all night. Not a fan of him. He showed me a preview of his new thing, Extremis. It’s not fully functional yet and it probably won’t be for a few years.”

“Yeah, but it’ll be cool once it’s live. If it works, then the medical field will advance by leaps and bounds.”

“That’s a big if. Maybe we should just leave the medical advancements to me, Accutech and that new exoskeleton they’re putting out,” Tony said, “it’s a modified Iron Man model.”

“Cool,” I nodded.

“What are you showing? I heard something about synthetic vibranium.”

My body locked up at the thought, “no. I’m not showing that. Never.”

Tony frowned at my reaction, “you okay, Rina?”

I shrugged off my panic, “yeah, sorry. Just, promise me you won’t mess around with stuff like that?”

Tony nodded, “uh, sure?”

I needed to distract myself with something. “We’re presenting something that isn’t as flashy as some of your stuff,” I said, “it’s made for the everyday soldier. It’s a modified exoskeleton that increases the rate of movement, the amount of weight they can carry and includes several emergency gadgets like gas masks, extra water, gps and communicators with their home base. It makes the everyday soldier a super soldier.”

Tony nodded, “interesting. I’m excited to see your presentation.”

I smiled, “I’m excited for everyone else to see our presentation. Stark Industries and Katana Enterprises working together!”

Tony grinned, “it’ll be the highlight of the expo.”

“Rina!” Yuki came out of nowhere, hugging me to his chest. “This party is awesome!” I noticed a gaggle of women giggling behind him and rolled my eyes.

“You look like you’re enjoying yourself,” I said, “you’d better be up in time for the presentations tomorrow.”

Yuki saluted, “Yes sir!” He stumbled off, the women following her.

“Aw, he’s turning into the new Tony Stark,” Tony said.

“God forbid,” I deadpanned. I noticed Loki coming over, his eyes fixed on me. “I think I’m going to hear to bed. See you tomorrow!” I left quickly, not checking back to see if Loki was following me.

I spent the rest of the night running over the presentation tomorrow, Yuki joined me once he had sobered up and we both went to bed at a more or less reasonable time for the presentations tomorrow.

I had nightmares about Mephisto again but pushed passed them, knowing I couldn’t be distracted tomorrow.

The day of the presentations arrived and the hotel filled up with five times as many people as students travelled in from nearby universities, billionaires flew in to see friends, companies came in to buy tech and governments sent representatives to buy them weapons.

“Welcome to the 20th International Conference on Defence Manufacturing and Technology! This year we have a world renowned group coming before us to present their groundbreaking research from this past year. And we can’t wait to get started!” The lady hosting said, her smile a little too big and bright.

I was sitting in a row with Tony, Natasha, Clint, Fury, Loki, Banner, Strange, Dr. Foster and my brother and took notes as the presentations began.

Roxxon Energy released a new type of oil drill. Hammer Industries was still trying to perfect their replica Iron Man Suit, Rand Enterprises presented several humanitarian peace projects - and as usual spent the majority of their presentation protesting war -, Accutech along with Dr. Strange released a very impressive exo-skeleton model made for surgeons and A.I.M. made their first introduction of Extremis.

Finally, it was time for Yuki and I to present and we brought out several different models of our exoskeleton for soldiers. Our product was received with cheers and clapping since it was one of the only weapons there that could be applied quickly to supply an army in bulk.

And then, Yuki left the stage and Tony Stark joined me which was met with utter confusion all around.

“Now, some of you may be wondering, what the hell Tony Stark is doing up here,” I started and some people in the room laughed. “Katana Enterprises might make some of the best weapons in the world but we can’t deny that there is a market for other types of technology as well.”

“Even though we might have gotten off on the wrong foot, we’re finally putting our minds together to release two new products. Katana Enterprises has so graciously steamrolled the Arc Reactor Clean Energy Project making its release date lower from ten years to two. By this time next year, both Katana Enterprises and Stark Industries will be running completely off of clean energy for half the cost.” Tony explained, “and we have Rina Kobayashi to thank for that.”

“And Tony has modified the holotable I invented last year to create the Stark Hud 2020, although I’m still thinking about changing the name.” I laughed, “it’s a modified Iron Man telepresence headset which allows citizens to access hundreds of information right in front of their eyes.”

“Basically, everyone gets to be Iron Man,” Tony said, “just without the blasters and the flying.”

“But maybe next year,” I added.

Before we could continue, an explosion rocked the entirety of Las Vegas. Tony and I exchanged glances and we were moving, his suit flying from a briefcase Pepper was holding and mine growing from bracelets on my wrists.

The other Avengers with us quickly assembled as JARVIS did a quick analysis of the damage. “Five Casinos located on the Las Vegas strip have been bombed,” JARVIS’ voice echoed through my earpiece.

Tony grabbed me and we shot down towards the city, the other Avengers following behind in a helicopter. “Police have already been dispatched to the scene but I’m afraid that Search and Rescue is going to take hours.”

The five casinos were on fire and one had completely collapsed. “WHO DID THIS!” I Shouted into the wind, clutching tightly to Tony just in case he thought it would be funny to drop me.

“Look!” He pointed to the middle of the strip where hundreds of electronic signs were flashing like it was time square. Each of them spelled out A.R.E.S. and underneath was written, “Assassination, Revolution, Exortion and Sabatoge.”

“Who the hell are they?” I shouted.

“I have no idea but they’re not playing around!” Tony shouted back as he dropped me in the center of the chaos. “JARVIS, I want an xray of all the buildings, target all the weakest points so we can stop anything else from collapsing. The rest of you need to focus on search and rescue, find the people inside and get them out.”

Loki dropped from the helicopter and landed next to me, “perfect time for training,” he said, the chaos not bothering him at all. “Give me your hand.”

I was wearing my full body suit since I didn’t want to lose my powers in the chaos and yanked off one of my gloves and grabbed Loki’s hand. “What do you want me to do?”

“Find the highest clusters of people, calm them down and get them to safety,” Loki said, closing his eyes and concentrating. “And if you can’t get them to safety, get the first responders to find a way to get to them.”

“You want me to mind control people?” I asked in disbelief.

“Yes,” Loki replied. “If they run around in a panic, they could cause more damage than necessary.”

I hesitated but closed my eyes, letting Loki’s magic wash over me. I focused on the nearest casino, tuning out the screaming of the people on the streets and focused on the people still inside, on the panic radiating off of them.

There was a large collection of people still in the downstairs Casino floor, unable to find the way out through the maze and starting to choke on the smoke. I couldn’t seem to latch onto a single mind so I started to build a web, connected one to another so I could see them all, which was like trying to put a bow on a pig.

“Good,” Loki said when I had connected about twenty people together and I could feel the thresholds of their minds. “Now walk inside their minds and picture the way out.”

I shifted in discomfort, not sure I wanted to do that. “Do it,” Loki ordered, “or they could choke on the smoke.”

I pushed outwards, as if I was standing in the center of the web and pulling all the strings and yanking their minds towards me.

I sent a wave of calmness, picturing the way out and began to guide them, making them take others with them. Soon, the entire bottom floor was empty.

“Good, now go to the next floor,” Loki said and I did as I was told, moving from floor to floor, mind to mind, calming people down, assessing their injuries and getting them out when I could. When I couldn’t find a way from them to escape or they were extremely hurt, I directed one of the Avengers or grabbed the mind of nearby first responders to focus on the highly injured people first.

I stood there for hours, hand in hand with Loki, breaking into people’s minds over and over again until it was almost as natural as breathing. By the time we were done, the sun was down and the moon was high in the sky and the buildings had all been cleared and I knew I could easily walk into the minds of anyone around me as easily as I breathe. I found I was slipping in and out of the minds of the Avengers as we gathered together to report and make sure we didn’t miss anything. I had to actively focus on not seeing into their thoughts.  
I walked up to Natasha and touched her hand, letting her powers flood through me and try to replace that fluidity I was feeling between minds.

The feeling lessened but the power still remained, the Mind Stone had grown stronger and I had grown more familiar with its powers, like it was now a permanent part of me. It was like I had a new, permanent superpower.

And Kang had wanted me to handle six? How had I survived for so long? How was I going to survive?

I noticed something else, something I wasn’t expecting. There was another mind, another superhero nearby, and his magic was powerful and he was watching Loki and I.

I hunted him down quickly, my eyes landing on the face of Doctor Strange, his eyes haunted and his hands shaking like he had just faced down the devil himself. I tried to reach out for his mind, wanting to know what was wrong but he vanished into a portal before I could even try.

“Did anyone else just see Dr. Stephen Strange walk through a magical portal, or was that just me?” Dr. Banner asked.

I raised my hand, “I saw it.” I realized my words were slurred and I was swaying on my feet. Natasha came up to my side, a hand out like she was ready to catch me if I collapsed.

Tony landed next to us, his helmet coming up, a frown on his face. “We just got a report from the police. ARES is a terrorist group that’s against pretty much all government forms. They’re leader is Rowana Maclean and she just released her maniphesto.” Tony dropped a huge essay on the table. “The weird thing is, there were no casualties.”

“What?” Fury asked, “how is that possible? A bombing this size should have catastrophic casualties.”

“People are severely injured and almost five hundred people were found burned so severely they should’ve been dead but no one is dead,” Tony repeated, “and I’m going to find out why.”

I thought of Doctor Strange and the haggard exhaustion on his face, had he had something to do with it?

“Right now, we’re going to go home and get some sleep. Both the Katana Enterprises jet and the Stark jet are standing by to fly us back to New York,” Tony said, “you’re brother is worried about you Rina.”

Guilt swept through me like a wave as I realized I had forgotten about my brother in all the chaos. “Okay,” I nodded, “let’s get going.”

I barely remembered the journey to the jet and the plane ride to New York because I was passed out from exhaustion the entire time.

I dreamed of a beautiful man wearing a black suit with black hair and black eyes and black skin. I dreamed of him sending monsters made of blood after us and I dreamed I pulled out his heart and found it black.

I dreamed that he was looking right at me in Stark Tower and he was coming for me.

I dreamed of him dragging me back to Mephisto.

I dreamed of Hotel Inferno, of a portal to hell right underneath the floorboards of the abandoned building.

I woke up screaming and knew that something was coming, something bad.


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight  
Rina

A week passed since my dreams and I hadn’t slept since, I kept dreaming of the man with a black heart and his blood demons dragging me back to Hotel Inferno.

Loki had paused my training after the insane magic I had pulled in Las Vegas, realizing how tired I was and instead I was focusing on running my company.

But the Hotel Inferno continued to haunt me. I drew a sketch of the building on my holographic coffee table, trying to get everything perfect. I could see the building around it, I knew what street it was on and everything.

“JARVIS,” I said, “I need a schematic for all the buildings on this street. I also want you to find any hotels or buildings in major cities that match this outline.” I said, passing him off the holographic drawing of the building.

It only took a few hours until Jarvis found what I was looking for. “Miss. Kobayashi, I tracked the location of the building you are looking for based off of the surrounding buildings but I’m afraid that the building you are searching for doesn’t exist. There is simply an empty lot where the building should be.”

“Thank you JARVIS,” I said writing down the address. “Alert the airport I’ll need my jet prepped. I’ll fly it myself.” I tore off the paper and turned to find Loki leaning against the door frame, I froze.

“Where are you going?” Loki asked as I waved a hand and the holograms vanished.

“Out,” I said, stepping around him, deliberately brushing a hand against his so I could steal his magic. I’d need all the help I could get. Not that Mephisto was back...there was no way. Maybe I shouldn’t go alone. But, he wasn’t back. I was just checking to make sure. “I don’t have to tell you where I’m going all the time.”

Loki stopped me with a hand, “you’re wearing your suit and carrying your weapons and you stole my magic. Where are you going?”

I yanked my arm from his grasp, “none of your business.”

Loki let me walk a little ways down the hall before catching up. “I’ve been monitoring your dreams.”

“You’ve been doing WHAT?” I shouted, “that’s not creepy at all.”

“You’re going to see if Hotel Inferno is back,” Loki said, “what is Hotel Inferno?”

I swallowed, “does your magic give you prophetic dreams?”

Loki hesitated, “sometimes.”

I decided to come clean, “Mephisto had a Hotel Inferno in Japan while he reigned terror on the Japanese people. If I’m seeing it in again in my dreams than maybe it’s a premonition of him coming back. Maybe I can find the crack and seal it before he comes back.”

“How are you going to do that?”

“Last time I stole Mephisto’s powers and sealed it. This time I’ll have to be a little more creative.”

We exited the elevator and I grabbed the keys for one of Tony’s ferrari’s. “You know I can just teleport us, right?” Loki asked.

I froze, “you can go long distances?” I had seen him appear and disappear but I had just assumed it was short distances.

Loki nodded, “I can do Las Vegas easily.” He held out his hand. “Let’s go.”

I grabbed his hand and the world squeezed around me until we were rematerialized back in the Hotel Nabu. I pushed down my nausea, trying not to throw up on the very expensive rug.

Loki smirked, “you feeling alright?”

“Fine,” I said, “let’s go.”

We climbed into a cab and I handed the taxi driver the address, “drop us a block away from here.”

It was a short ride, not giving me any time to prepare, I realized I was shaking with nerves as we drove.

What if he was back? What if he kidnapped me again? What if this time I couldn’t escape?

All those thoughts ran through my head as Loki and I reached our destination. I payed the cab driver and we quickly climbed out, heading towards the empty lot at the end of the block where a skyscraper should be standing.

There was nothing there, it had just been a dream.

Loki stopped walking, “wait, I sense something. A magical barrier.”

I stopped, “where?”

“Concentrate,” Loki said, “feel with your magic for traps.”

I did, letting Loki’s magic stretch out in front of me, feeling out anything out of the ordinary. There was something around the empty lot, a magical barrier of some kind, hiding what was really inside.

I swallowed, moving closer and summoning my katanas. We didn’t dare step through the magical barrier, in case it triggered some type of alarm. Instead, Loki teleported us through it, making sure we didn’t touch it.

We landed on the other side and I blinked up at the half built sky scraper that seemed to be half ruined, the words Hotel Inferno shining in neon lights high above me.

As I watched, a few more bricks were added to the crumbling building, like it was rebuilding itself.

“Rina,” Loki said softly and I lowered my gaze to the place where the doors would be. Red pulsing light filtered out and heat rolled off of it in waves.

My entire body locked up as terror set in. This couldn’t be happening, he couldn’t be back. I had been so careful in sealing him away. I had almost killed him the last time I was there.

“Rina,” Loki said softly, “we should go.”

I shook my head, “I have to make sure.” My voice barely worked but I moved forward on shaky legs, Loki’s magic a comfort to me as I moved towards the light.

Maybe the crack was only big enough to allow the hotel to return brick by brick. Maybe it was so small it would simply affect the weather around it. Maybe it was a different dimension where Mephisto was nice.

I stepped into the hotel and immediately turned around and vomited from terror. The portal was the size of the entire first floor, ten times bigger than the last time I had fought Mephisto. Black ooze and red blood seeped from it, covering the floor and I could see right back into the hell I had escaped from five years ago.

I fell to my knees, trembling as the hole seemed to breathe. “Riiiiiiiiinnnnnnaaaaa,” a very faint but unmistakable voice echoed from the pit. “Riiiiiinnaaaa.” The voice was sick, wheezing and coughing and I prayed Mephisto was dying, I prayed that the wound I had mortally wounded hi with would kill him.

The black blood oozed faster, starting to form arms and legs. Tears streamed down my face, it was impossible. Mephisto shouldn’t be this powerful, there shouldn’t be such a huge stable portal in the middle of a city.

How did it get so big so quickly?

“Rina,” Loki grabbed my arm, pulling me to my feet. “We need to go.”

“I have to close it, I have to seal it,” I sobbed, trying to escape his grasp, “before he’s powerful enough to kill us all.”

Even as I said those words I knew it was hopeless. There was no sealing this portal. No stopping him. It was too big, too wide for us to do anything about it. At least with the power I currently possessed.

I knew that even Loki wasn’t powerful enough to seal it.

“There’s nothing to be done Rina,” Loki said, “we have to get you out of here. We have to warn the others!”

The world vanished into blackness and for a moment I panicked, wondering if Mephisto had surrounded us in darkness. I screamed and thrashed, only to reappear back in my bedroom in Stark Tower, wrapped up in Loki’s arms.

I couldn’t help myself, I broke down in sobs. If Mephisto was back, he wouldn’t stop hunting for me. He wouldn’t stop killing. I was going to die. I knew it, just like I knew he had returned.

“Calm down,” Loki said softly, not letting me go as he sat down on the couch. “It’s going to be okay.”

“No!” I said, “it’s not. He’s gonna kill me. Loki, he’s gonna take me again. I can’t do it, I can’t do it again, I can’t do it….” I trailed off, wracked with sobs.

“Mephisto isn’t going to touch you,” Loki growled, “you have me, the Avengers, your powers, you’re not alone this time. You’re not helpless.”

I don’t know how long he held me but eventually I stopped crying, letting his words penetrate my terrified mine.

“You’re right, I’m not alone this time,” I said as calmly as I could. “I’m not going to let him take me. He’s not getting me this time.” I said, mostly to reassure myself. “I’d rather die than go back.” And I meant that. Mephisto was going to die.

I got slowly to my feet, wiping away my tears. “We need to tell the others what’s coming and alert S.H.I.E.L.D. and Yuki. I’m not going to be caught off guard this time.”

I wasn’t going to lose this time.

And if I couldn’t seal the portal, then I was just going to have to kill Mephisto. And become Queen of the Underworld myself.


End file.
